The New Warlord
by Darien Fawkes
Summary: A new and dangerous enemy, wielding the powerful Dark Energem comes to Earth to face the Rangers. But is that the only drama they will have to face?
1. Chapter 1

**Legal:** I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, characters, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be assumed to be purely the creation of the author.

 **Rating:** T – May be some mild adult themes, including language and violence.

Things were mercifully quiet on the Heckyl front for the Rangers, which was a huge blessing given the situation at the museum. Things had gone really downhill fast ever since Kendall had been demoted as a result of Ivan destroying the suit of Honour. It had turned out that the suit didn't even belong to Mr Smith, and they had avoided a huge lawsuit, but Anton had taken it as a sign that running the museum and running the team simultaneously had running the museum was too much for Kendall, and had demoted her, and appointed a new Director, a man named Flash Barker.

Flash was...certainly different in how he ran the museum. He had made his name and his fortune in running amusement parks. As soon as he arrived things had started to change. He had instituted a uniform policy, which wouldn't have been all that bad if it wasn't for the blatant and quite uncomfortable difference between how he expected the guys to dress and the girls to dress. While everyone, regardless of gender, wore t-shirts that were much too tight for them to emphasise their physiques, the girls also had to wear what could only loosely be described as "shorts." They were uncomfortably tight, and so short they barely covered their butts. It was pretty clear how he intended this to attract customers, and it had worked in a way...there were now quite a few more creeps hanging around the cafe at lunch times.

The exhibits hadn't been spared either. He had started manipulating the exhibits to make them seem more interesting and appealing. This wasn't unusual in and of itself, but it became clear that he favoured appearance over any kind of research or historical accuracy. Ivan was outraged when he found an exhibit dedicated to him depicting him wearing plate armour. He had been abducted in 1216, almost a full 400 years before plate armour was developed*. The early man exhibits had a mixture of pro-magnum, Neanderthal, homo erectus and homo sapiens men shown in various states of battle...none of which there was any real evidence of since many of the species had only barely overlapped in the time line at all.

The staff had already felt the rough end of his management style as well. He had fired the original gift shop attendant purely because he was old, and he didn't want to pay him the benefits he had earned over his time with the museum and so manufactured a way to fire him. Allison had been warned about her "bad attitude" because she had questioned some of Flash's decisions. However, all of that was only the tip of the iceberg. In her rush to get to the lake to save Matt, Kendall had assaulted Flash, which gave him all the excuse he needed to bar her from the building. Now, the museum really was his, and there was little any of them could do about it.

Riley entered the museum, carrying various paint rollers and brushes, and looking a little sunburnt and weary. He found Shelby staring at the T-Rex exhibit and shaking her head in disbelief. This was another one of Flash's bastardisations of artefacts. It had at least half a dozen more vertebrae and ribs than it should, and its mouth was jammed full of teeth that didn't belong to it, all because Flash wanted to make it look bigger and scarier than it actually was.

"Shelby, it really isn't that bad." Riley told her.

"Not that bad?" She asked him. "People dedicated their careers to studying these things. He's turned it into some kind of freak show! He may as well have gone the whole hog and given it wings!"

"He just...wanted it to look scarier." He reminded her. Shelby rolled her eyes.

"If he wanted something scarier he could have put up the Spinosaurus skeleton we had delivered last month." Shelby told him.

"Then...why don't you suggest that?" Riley asked her. She just smiled.

"I did." Shelby responded. "He told me he doesn't want to risk the trademark infringement of Jurassic Park by using a dinosaur they made up for the movie."

"Wait...he thinks the Spinosaurus is..." Riley just face-palmed, which turned out to be a bad move given his sun burn. "He thinks it's made up? We have the skeleton right in the back!"

"Try telling him that." Shelby muttered. "We have an overgrown toddler running the place."

"Look on the bright side; at least you didn't spend the last three hours clearing up after that graffiti artist." Riley reminded her.

"I guess at least I'm not working in the restaurant." Shelby sighed in agreement. "Do you know what his latest genius plan is?"

"He...wants to make the food better?" Riley asked her.

"He wants to make it gourmet." Shelby told him.

"I...guess some art galleries have gourmet restaurants..."

"Riley, no one on staff here is a chef! We flip burgers!" Shelby reminded him. "Would you run a sushi bar if none of your employees knew how to make sushi?"

"I...guess not." He said, sucking his teeth. "So...who's the chef?"

"Oh, that's the best part. Chase." She told him. Riley just stared blankly at her. Chase wasn't a bad choice per se; he had manned the grill a lot of times. "Flash found out the food critic likes pavalova and when he remembered for once that Chase is from New Zealand, decided he was the chef."

"Does Chase even know how to make pavalova?" Riley asked her. Shelby rolled her eyes.

"So, you figured out the flaw in this plan?" Shelby asked him. "Oh, he's also not given us much time to prepare either, he's already arranged for Mrs Allister to come to the restaurant."

"The food critic?" Riley asked incredulously. "Is he insane? She's shut down more restaurants with her reviews than the Health Department!"

"So you see a flaw in this plan." Shelby responded. Just then, she turned around to see a rather stern looking woman looking down her nose at her. She was dressed in a designer dress and carrying a new designer handbag.

"Which way is the restaurant?" She asked. "I've got a booking."

"Oh...I...can show you to..."

"No, it's alright, I can find my own way, I see it now." The woman interrupted Riley. "I just hope for your sake the food isn't as burned as your face."

As she headed for the restaurant, Riley just stared at Shelby.

"Is it really that bad?" He asked her. Shelby just winced.

"Let's just say...thank God for Energems." She said, patting his shoulder, causing him immense pain, before heading off to find her next tour group.

On Heckyl's ship, the flamboyant alien was being led down the hall towards the lab by Wrench to see his latest creation. They hadn't sent much in the way of an attack to the city since the battle over the Titanozord. Seeing the sheer power the Rangers had at their disposal with the Titanozord, Wrench had vowed to Heckyl that he would create him a weapon that could match the power of their Zords if given a little time to work and experiment. Heckyl was sceptical at best, but he decided to give Wrench a chance. The cyborg was babbling away as they approached the door.

"I'm telling you, with some manipulation of genetics, combined with some of my own technology; I've come up with the ultimate weapon!" Wrench assured him, in a sales pitch that Heckyl felt like he'd heard a thousand times before. Wrench opened the door, where they saw a massive, armoured creature being attacked by viviks. "Here it is, my secret project. Fortress!"

The viviks attacked with all they had, punching the creature, which didn't react in the slightest, like the blows were of no more concern to it than dust particles. With a simple swing of its arm, all the viviks flew across the room. Heckyl just sighed and stroked the bridge of his nose.

"So, this is your invincible monster?" Heckyl quizzed him wearily. "Wrench, being able to beat up viviks isn't a big deal. We've seen normal people do it. Kendall destroyed a number of them before she got her Energem."

"He isn't just powerful; he knows all the Megazord moves!" Wrench boasted, going to his computer. "Looking through news archives, I've downloaded each and every Megazord battle we've been in."

"All the ones we've lost you mean." Heckyl stated. Wrench just went back to the footage, pulling up the first battle the Rangers won with the Pachyzord.

"That's the Pacha Wrecking ball!" Wrench told him. "Viviks, pretend to be a wrecking ball, just like we practiced!"

One of the viviks jumped onto the shoulders of four others, who then ran with him like a battering ram, head-first towards fortress. The monster deflected them and sent them all crashing to the floor with ease.

"Fortress can counter any Megazord move ever!" Wrench told him.

"Impressive! I just notice one little problem with your little theory." Heckyl stated. "You're not going to be there to call out the moves."

"No, but you are." Wrench told him. Heckyl just looked at him a little impatiently, like he was waiting for him to get to the point. "I've included a cockpit and control system in his armour, just like a Megazord. Once he's Magna-beamed into a giant, you'll have your very own cockpit just like a Megazord!"

"My own monster Megazord." Heckyl said as an evil grin crossed his face, this thought starting to form up in his mind. "I like it!"

At her apartment, Kendall was in her living room, starting to look through some of her books and journals. It had been quite a while since she had this much time on her hands. While it didn't feel good to be banished from the museum, to be away from the place she had poured so much of herself into, there were a few advantages. For one thing, she no longer had to wear that ridiculous uniform Flash insisted she wear at the museum. Since she worked for Anton, and not the museum, Flash couldn't actually fire her, so unless Anton said any differently, she couldn't be fired, so she was still getting paid, meaning she didn't have to worry about her bills, but now that meant that she had to find ways to fill her day.

It had been one of her regrets never getting around to completing her PhD. She had been all but complete, but unfortunately she had planned to partner with Dr Runga to publish a paper as her PhD dissertation. Dr Runga had been a much different person then, being more concerned with credit and glory than his work, and so he had published the paper but omitted any mention of Kendall's contribution. It had been a harsh blow, one that she still hadn't really gotten over completely, even after accepting Dr Runga's apology. The only reason she even looked at submitting a dissertation was as a result of a deal she made with Shelby, that if Shelby went to university and got her degree, then she would finally submit a dissertation and get the PhD she should have gotten a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. A dissertation was easily upwards of 50,000 words, and required a lot of work and study, even before it was submitted, after which it would be scrutinised painstakingly for signs of plagiarism or false and unsubstantiated claims. Since she was starting from square one, first of all she needed to find a topic she even wanted to write about. Since she didn't need to be anywhere, she was sitting in her apartment in just a pair of sweat pants, and a jersey that was about four sizes too big for her. She took a sip of a coffee, before returning to her journals to catch up on the latest developments in her field.

She heard a knock on the door, distracting her attention. She put the journals aside and headed to the door, opening it to find Matt standing outside.

"Matt!" She exclaimed, taking the chain off the door and letting him in. "What the hell are you doing here? You should be in the hospital!"

Matt had indeed been sent to the hospital after the battle at the lake. Between oxygen deprivation, hypothermia and a mild case of the bends, he was in no fit state to go back to the farm to work.

"You know me, 'Granite' Matt Griffin." He told her, coming into the room, but moving a little gingerly. Kendall just guided him as far as the couch, making him sit down. "Hospitals really don't do it for me."

"Matt, this is no laughing matter; you shouldn't be up and about. You need rest, you need..."

"I think I know what I need more than any doctor, and it sure isn't another drip shoved into me." He told her. He reached out for her, cradling her face. "Thank you for what you did. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Kendall couldn't resolve what she wanted right now. She wanted to pull away, to get away from Matt to avoid getting too close. Their relationship had ended abruptly after they had gotten to talk about the future. Well, talk was glorifying it a little. Kendall had been disappointed when Matt hadn't been chosen by the Purple Energem she had now bonded to. She was even more disappointed when Matt told her he didn't want to be a Ranger in the first place. She had said some careless things about how he didn't need to be trapped on the farm in Millport, things that only insulted Matt. He didn't think of himself as trapped, he actually wanted to stay. He saw his future in Millport, a future with a family, something that Kendall had blurted out was in no way in her plans. It was the nail in the coffin that let them know their relationship was on borrowed time.

However, she couldn't deny to herself how she felt. When she heard that Matt was in danger, nothing could stop her racing to the lake to get to him. She had thrown away her position at the museum, and ignored the battle at the edge of the lake to get to him. It was only down to her suit she had even survived the swim down to the Titanozord. To have him with her now, to feel his touch, she felt the same energy, the same electricity that surged through her whenever she was near him. She took his hand, taking it from her face, but still holding it.

"Matt...I did what I did..."

"What you did goes way beyond the standard duties of a Ranger." Matt told her. "Kendall, I never stopped..."

"Matt, can you please...just...don't say that." Kendall asked him. She pleaded with him with her eyes. She could feel in her heart what he was going to say, which would just make keeping her distance so much harder. "I'm glad I saved you, but this...we can't forget there's a reason this happened."

"If that's how you feel then why are you still wearing my jersey?" He asked her. It was only then that Kendall realised he was right. One of the few times they had dated, they were out when the weather turned a little chilly. Matt, ever the gentleman, had given her his jersey to help her stay warm. She had never gotten around to giving it back to him. She hadn't even thought about it when she put it on today.

"It's really comfortable." Kendall told him. "If you want it back..."

"Kendall, I don't care about the sodding jersey." He interrupted her. "It's you I care about."

"Matt, this is a really bad idea." Kendall told him, getting up from the couch. "We know where it'll end up..."

"Yeah, I know, but I want you to know...it doesn't matter to me." He assured her.

"But you want kids..."

"Exactly, and you know what? There are kids all over the country that are just crying out for a good home." He told her. Kendall paused as he said this.

"Wait, what do you mean?" She asked him.

"Blood doesn't make family, love does." He told her. "If we fostered or if we adopted..."

"Wait, why would you think...?" Her face suddenly twisted into one of pure anger. "...who told you?" Matt just sighed.

"Your grandmother visited me in hospital." Matt told her. "She told me about the operation..."

"She had NO RIGHT to tell you that!" Kendall snapped at him, folding her arms defiantly. "That was none of her business!"

"Kendall, don't you think those are exactly the kinds of things I would want to share with you?" He asked her. "I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like..."

"I want you to go." Kendall told him. "Right now."

"Kendall..."

"You found your way in here, you can find your way back out!" Kendall interrupted him. Matt realised he had blundered into this rather carelessly and it had backfired horribly.

"Kendall, I'm sorry, will you just listen to me?" He asked her.

"Second thoughts, you might need to rest up after your walk over here." She told him, gathering up a few journals. "That doesn't mean I have to be here!"

With that, she stormed into her room and slammed the door. Matt just went to the couch and lay down, cursing himself for the way he blundered into this. He loved Kendall, and he would never want to be the cause of pain for her. However, right now, it looked like that was exactly what he was.

In her room, Kendall threw her journals onto the bed and sat down. There wasn't much room in her bedroom now, it was a bad idea to hide out here, since there was barely enough room to move around, but she couldn't face Matt right now, and this was the only place she could think of to go.

Climbing awkwardly onto the bed, she barely had any room to move around anywhere else. As she was leaving the museum for the last time, she had intercepted a delivery, one intended for her at the museum. It was all the artefacts the team had found in Koda's tribe's cave in Alaska. Partly as a way of protecting the artefacts from Flash, and partly as an act of spite, she had the artefacts re-routed to her apartment. However, now that they were here, she didn't really know what to do with them. She hadn't even told Shelby, who she shared the apartment with, that they were there, hence why her room was now completely filled with all the artefacts that they had found.

She was trying to read some journals to get some inspiration for her dissertation when her movement on the bed caused one of the artefacts to fall onto her bed. She groaned and reached for it, realising it was the atlatl or spear-thrower that she had found. It was a technology that shouldn't have existed in that era, the first examples being attributed to the Aztecs thousands of years later. She looked around the room and a thought occurred to her. How could she not see it? She had one of the most monumental finds in the history of her field right there in her bedroom the whole time!

She took her notes, screwing them up into a ball and threw them into the corner, before scribbling down a new title.

"Early Man, Early Science. The Untold Truth of the First Scientists."


	2. Arcanon Arrives

In the kitchen of the Dino Bite Cafe, Chase was furiously working on making up food orders. He was pretty accustomed to manning the grill; it was one of his more frequent functions since he had a real talent with it when he wasn't almost burning the restaurant down by being too distracted by girls. However, what Flash was asking him to do was well beyond the wheelhouse of an experienced barbecue amateur.

In his attempts to bring up profit margins, inspired by some art galleries that had gourmet restaurants in their premises, Flash had declared that he was planning to turn the cafe into a gourmet restaurant. While no one was against expanding the menu necessarily, they did think it was odd to be talking about putting things like steak tartar, lobster thermadore and steamed clams on a menu that once boasted a "Stegorific Surprise Pasta".

His choice of Chase as chef was also somewhat less than convincing. While Chase was one of the more frequent grill operators, he was far from a chef, and Flash had told him directly that he chose him because he heard Mrs Allister loved pavalova, ordering it in practically every restaurant that she reviewed with a four star or above rating. Being the deep thinker he was, Flash took the fact Chase was from New Zealand to automatically mean he loved pavlova and clearly knew how to make it. Unfortunately...the reality was a little short of the mark!

Chase was desperately rushing around, putting together ingredients on a few dishes while checking on his latest incarnation of the dessert, just as Allison came back into the kitchen, straightening out a new t-shirt.

"So, how's the latest semtex surprise going?" She asked him.

"I swear to God, I don't know what happened!" Chase told her again. "My aunt texted me over that recipe but I swear, I have no idea why it did that!"

"Well, I'm definitely looking forward to getting home and getting a shower." She told him. "That stuff went everywhere...and I do mean EVERYWHERE!"

"Really?" Chase asked, arching an eyebrow. "Do tell."

"Maybe later if you're lucky." She teased him, coming over and kissing him. Flash came into the kitchen, finding them.

"Alright you two, I don't pay you to knock boots on my time." He said, interjecting between them. "I just got word that Ms Allister is here, we're officially on."

"Well...not quite. I can't seem to find Tyler anywhere." Allison said, looking around.

"Well, you're hardly likely to find him at the back of your boyfriend's throat are you?" He asked in response. "No, I've had him getting changed into his new uniform."

"New uniform?" Chase asked, looking a little surprised. "Another one? You only just gave us these...things!"

"I just thought an up-scale restaurant requires an up-scale look." He told them. Allison just sighed.

"Of course this isn't something I should know about or anything." She grumbled. "I mean, it's not like I'm the supervisor or anything."

Flash took her by the waist and lifted her, literally putting her in the corner, before patting her head like he was dealing with a defiant toddler. Chase and Allison exchanged a couple of looks. Chase hadn't seen Flash treating her like that before, Allison hadn't told him about the time he all but threatened her job just for questioning one of his decisions regarding stock orders. A gentle shake of the head from her told him to let it drop for now, they would talk later.

"Ah, there he is." Flash said as Tyler walked in, wearing black suit pants, a white shirt, and a bow-tie that was just hanging around his neck, since clearly Tyler had no idea how to tie it. He had a waistcoat that was short enough that the bottom of the shirt could be seen tucked into his pants. "Tyler, what about the tie?"

"I told you, I don't know how to tie it!" Tyler answered. "I'm a clip-on guy at best!"

With a loud grumble, Flash came over and tied the bow tie for Tyler, almost strangling the Red Ranger as he did so. He straightened out his hair and handed him a napkin, which he folded over Tyler's left forearm. He, Chase and Allison just beheld the image in front of them, though Flash seemed a lot more enthusiastic than they were.

"There, what do you think?" He asked.

"Um...I'm going to have to plead the fifth." Chase stated.

"That only works for citizens." Flash reminded him. Allison just gestured to Tyler.

"It's...something alright." She admitted as she struggled to keep from laughing. Flash then just looked to Tyler.

"Now, just like we practiced." He told him.

"Do I really have to?" Tyler asked. Flash just crossed his arms, indicating he wasn't to be denied.

"Good evening, how may I serve you?" Tyler said in what was possibly the worst, most stereotyped version of a French accent ever uttered! It sounded like a combination between Inspector Cleausau and Pepe Le Peu if they were suffering from a lisp! Chase and Allison just stared blankly at each other.

"Um...why?" Was all Chase could ask as he heard this ridiculous and farcical voice.

"Does he LOOK French to you?" Allison asked Flash. The man didn't seem at all deterred though.

"Perfect! Oh, there she is! Go on, just like that! Make me proud sonny Jim!" He declared, shoving Tyler out the door. He then turned to Allison and Chase. "Now, make sure everything goes smoothly. Oh, and when you give her the bill...it'll all be gratis of course, it's just a symbolic thing, make sure you leave this in the bill wallet."

"Five hundred bucks?" Chase asked as Flash handed him some cash.

"Bill wallet?" Allison asked. Flash handed her a black leather bill wallet, at which she just sighed. "Sorry I asked!"

"Now, make me proud! This could be HUGE!" He declared proudly, before leaving the kitchen. Allison went to the window as soon as he left.

"It'll be huge alright." She chuckled. "I'm not missing this for the world!"

Tyler made his way across the dining room, seeing a stern-looking woman perusing the menu, and immediately knew this was the woman he was here to see. For a start, she was the only one looking at the new menu; everyone else had the usual menu. There were candles on her table, and crystal glasses, but being such a cheapskate, Flash hadn't bothered putting this on the other tables, obviously waiting to see if his experiment worked before forking out for the new gear. Finally, while the rest of the restaurant had their usual clientele, she was there in designer clothing. Tyler made his way across, and took a deep breath before beginning, hoping not to sound too ridiculous.

"Good evening, how may I serve you?" He asked, looking to her. The woman looked up from her menu and eyed him up and down in a judgemental gaze that made Tyler believe she could see through the farce without even trying. She glanced once more to the menu.

"I'll have the Bronto Burger please." She said, picking out the signature dish, which was a common practice for critics. If a restaurant couldn't make a good showing of their flagship recipe, then there wasn't really much hope for the rest of the menu. "And for dessert...oh, you serve Pavalova! I'll have a slice of that please!"

She sounded pleasantly surprised by the last part; clearly Flash's research into her reviewing habits had paid off. Tyler just bowed.

"Excellent choice." He said as he headed for the kitchen, sprinting inside.

"Chase, is that Pavlova done yet?" He asked. "She just ordered a slice!"

"Well...we're having some quality control issues." Chase admitted.

"I can attest to that." Allison replied, shifting a little uncomfortably. Being unable to get a shower, she still hadn't had a chance to clean up properly and was still feeling a little sticky at bits.

"Still, hopefully third time's the charm!" Chase told him. "Now, where's that whipped cream and fruit?"

Heckyl was in his ship, just getting a few things prepared before he could bring his latest monster into the city. Wrench had done an impressive job creating Fortress as a near-unstoppable destructive force, but with this monster came a few things that he needed to consider. While powerful, in order to make it controllable, Wrench had to remove much of its intelligence. Without someone to direct it, the monster was pretty much all but mindless. In its normal mode, it would need someone nearby to relay instructions to it, but the real strength in it was when it was grown. Once it had been hit with the Magna Beam, Heckyl would have his own Megazord to battle the Rangers, once that had all the Zord moves programmed into it. It would only need someone inside that could activate the correct response protocols.

Heckyl had been spending a while on a simulator, getting used to the controls. He smiled as he saw on the screen the Megazord blowing up for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"I always wanted to say this." He stated. "Rangers Extinct!"

"Master Heckyl, you're really getting the hang of this!" Wrench complimented him, giving him a round of applause. "When you get out there with the real thing, the Rangers won't know what hit them!"

Just then, there was an alarm, and Heckyl turned to view the screen.

"There's something approaching the Earth, it looks like some kind of ship!" Wrench told him.

"Can you tell who it is?" Heckyl asked him. Wrench sent out a signal to see if he could pick up any more details.

"It looks like it's similar to Singe's ship...but it seems much bigger." Wrench told him. Heckyl smiled.

"Well, if Singe thought he would shake things up by bringing a couple of friends along for the ride, then I guess he's going to be in for a big surprise." Heckyl announced. "Wrench, get Fortress ready. I feel like taking him for a test drive."

Back at the Dino Bite cafe, Tyler had returned to Mrs Allister's table, finding her picking at the burger, dissecting it in what could only be described as a bizarre form of post mortem. He could see she had a notebook out and was scribbling down notes as she took tiny bites off her fork, considering each bite and combination of flavours before taking down her thoughts.

"Is everyzing alrights wiz your meal?" Tyler asked, inwardly feeling all his self-respect leaving his body quicker than the silly accent Flash had forced him to adopt. Mrs Allister pushed the burger towards him.

"The burger was fine. It was a little underdone for my taste, but the salad was dressed brilliantly." She told him. Tyler picked up the plate.

"I'll speak to the chef about your Pavlova straight away." Tyler told her, before taking the plate away. He got into the back, finding Chase putting the finishing touches to it.

"Chase, she said the burger was fine." He told her. It wasn't exactly an overwhelming compliment, but at least so far the meal hadn't gone too badly that they had to worry about one of her more barbed reviews. Catherine Allister was renowned for her reviews, not necessarily because her views were especially better or more valid than anyone else's, but because she was extremely articulate about them, especially her bad reviews. She had a way of dissecting any restaurant that didn't meet her expectations with her pen that had all the grace and mercy of a public crucifixion! It was said her one, and more notoriously zero star reviews had closed more restaurants in Amber Beach than the Health Department!

"No worries, I think I've got this just...right!" He said, proudly placing a New Zealand flag on the top.

"THINK?" Tyler screamed, now starting to panic. Chase picked up the plate.

"Well...it's not exploded like the last two." He answered honestly. "Maybe a little personal introduction from the chef will help."

He took the plate out to the table, setting down the whole thing before Mrs Alexander. She looked up to Chase, seeing him standing over it, grinning at her.

"I ordered a slice." She reminded him. He just nodded.

"Ah, yes well...I just wanted to present it personally." Chase told her, his accent making her sit up and take notice. "This is the Pavlova, a favourite dessert of my home country of New Zealand."

"Well, a Pavlova made by an actual New Zealander! I'm expecting great things from this." She told him, looking to Tyler. "Unlike...whatever that accent is meant to be."

Tyler just forced a smile as Chase handed over a cake knife, allowing her to cut her own slice from the cake. Before she could touch it though, there was a rather disturbing gurgling sound. Mrs Allister paused and looked up to Chase, whose face was in complete panic.

"What was that?" She asked him.

"Oh...it's just...it looks so good, I'm getting really hungry." He told her, rubbing his stomach. "You know what we kiwis can get like when there's a Pavlova sitting around."

"Well, I can tell you I get the same way." She replied with a smile, the first one she'd had on her face since she stepped into the restaurant. She returned to the cake, preparing to slice it, but the second the knife touched it, the whole thing exploded, showering the whole area with cream, pastry and fruit. Mrs Allister stood up in horror, shrieking as she looked at the mess all over her designer clothing.

"I'm so sorry!" Chase protested, grabbing Tyler's napkin and starting to clean up in a somewhat futile effort.

"This is a designer handbag!" She screeched, picking up her handbag, which was full of the mix, pulling it shut as she slung the bag over her shoulder. "You call yourself a New Zealander and you can't even make Pavlova?"

"I swear, I followed the recipe to the letter..."

"Well, I wouldn't worry; you're not going to need that recipe again." She hissed angrily, pointing a finger at him, throwing cream straight into his face as she did. "This restaurant is going to get my WORST REVIEW EVER!"

As she stormed out, Allison came in from the kitchen, carrying a mop and bucket.

"So...that went well." She commented.

"I'll go tell Flash." Tyler grumbled, pulling off his bow tie as he left. Chase just looked down to the carnage that had been his latest attempt at the dessert.

"Don't worry about it. Flash should have checked whether you could make it." Allison tried to reassure him. "It's not your fault he's a narrow-minded jackass."

As she started to mop up, Chase just took a seat at the table and took off his hat, staring at the result of his culinary disaster.

"I don't even like Pavlova." He muttered.

Meanwhile, deep within the city's business district, an asteroid ship, much like the one that had brought Singe to Earth, streaked through the sky in a trail of fire. It slammed down through a building, coming to rest in a huge crater on the ground. People ran screaming for their lives as it opened up. Singe was the first one out, scanning the area for signs of resistance before he signalled to his comrades. The next one out was a huge creature, that looked like gigantic black bird, whose wing tips were trimmed in a deep, flaming red. He wielded a huge, barbed sword as he surveyed the surroundings for any sign of resistance.

"So, this is Earth huh?" He asked. "This planet looks like a trash heap!"

"Appearances can be deceptive." Singe reminded him. "The Energems are here, as are Heckyl and the others."

"Lord Arcanon, allow me to welcome you to your latest conquest." Singe said regally as he took a knee, gesturing to the last inhabitant it was safe to leave. "Welcome to Planet Earth!"

Arcanon was an evil-looking creature, swathed in a crimson cloak, and wearing ornate, armour over his entire torso and head. His helmet bore long spikes from the top, and a skull-like visage that was terrifying to behold. On his shoulders, he had a long, arched horn coming from the right shoulder pad, but the one on the left had been sliced off about a quarter of the way along, giving him an uneven appearance. He was carrying a book in his left hand, with a golden symbol on its cover.

"Silence Doomwing. I did not make it this far by underestimating my foes." Arcanon told him. "The last time I did that cost me a great deal."

"Oh, look, they saved us the bother of looking for them." Singe said, pointing down the street, where Heckyl, Wrench, Fury and Fortress were making their way towards them.

"How dare you return to my planet Singe?" Heckyl demanded angrily, staring at the turncoat he had banished only a short time before. "I made it clear what would happen if you returned!"

"He came on my orders!" Arcanon informed him. "Long ago, I hired Sledge to capture an army for me, made of some of the best and brightest of the scum of the universe! Now, I've come to collect on that contract!"

"It's...it's true!" Wrench stammered as his memory banks made the connection. "Sledge was hired by a creature named Arcanon! It was one of the only monsters he was ever afraid of!"

"You...you're Lord Arcanon?" Fury asked, seeing the creature standing before him. He had joined Sledge later as a partner, but even he had heard of the warlord who had laid waste to whole star systems.

"Sledge's ship and his monsters belong to me! I've come to pay my contract and collect my monsters, including you Heckyl!" Arcanon stated with authority.

"I belong to no one. No one will ever put me in chains again." Heckyl told him, slipping his goggles up from around his neck and over his eyes, before powering up his hands. "If you want to take my army, my ship, my planet...you'll have to take them by force!"


	3. Definition Of Insanity

As usual, Sarah opted to take her break down in the Dino Lab. Without Kendall there, it really fell to her and Shelby to take care of the routine maintenance on the tech for the Rangers. Fortunately, they seemed to be able to deal with all the routine work between them, Shelby coming to the lab between classes and after shifts and Sarah during her down-time. It was a struggle, but they were able to manage it.

As she came into the lab, Sarah was carrying a few spare parts, which flew out of her hands and scattered on the floor as her foot suddenly slipped away from under her. She looked to the ground and saw pieces of egg shell, some raw egg, flour, and even some cream. She looked up and noticed that the lab was splattered with ingredients too. Chase was sitting in a chair across from the main lab table, sulking. He too was completely covered head to toe in various pavlova ingredients.

"OK...for once I'm glad Ms Morgan isn't here." Sarah commented. "I have a feeling she would totally flip out if she saw this!"

"I just...I don't know what's wrong." Chase sighed, tossing his recipe sheet aside. "I've been following my aunt's recipe to the letter every time. I even came down here to use the lab equipment to make sure I had the measurements right to the micro-ounce."

"I really don't think you need to be that exact." Sarah said, almost slipping again as she came over. "All evidence to the contrary. Maybe there's something..."

"I don't get it. Why can't I get this stupid recipe to work?" He asked her. "Who can't make a simple recipe work?"

"You should see what happened the first time I tried to poach an egg in the microwave." She giggled in response. She could see though that Chase wasn't seeing the funny side. "So, did Flash say anything?"

"I haven't told him yet." Chase admitted. "I know he's going not going to be happy, but it's not like he can do much to me."

"So why so gloomy?" She asked him.

"Sarah, do you know if he's giving Allison a hard time?" Chase asked him. Sarah started to back up a little.

"I think you'd need to ask her that." Sarah told him. Chase didn't look at all convinced by this answer.

"He was really weird with her in the kitchen earlier." He commented.

"Weird? How would you say weird?" Sarah asked.

"Well, he kind of...he touched her." He told her, thinking about it.

"In front of you?" She asked, looking surprised. "Is he looking to cash in his life assurance?"

"No, not in a sexual way...though believe me; I really wasn't happy about it." He told her. He went over to Sarah and grabbed her by the waist, before manoeuvring her into a corner. He then patted her on the head. "It's not just me is it? That's...?"

"Chase, we all know Flash is a disrespectful jerk." Sarah told him. "He treats people like furniture."

"It's just, when he did it, Allison didn't say anything. She normally wouldn't let anyone treat her like that." Chase told her. "I get the feeling maybe something isn't right there."

"Chase, you really think she's into Flash?" She asked him. "Chase, she can't stand him! None of us can!"

"I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking maybe he's like...threatening her or something." Chase told her. "Has he threatened anyone else?"

"It's...not so much a threat so much." Sarah told him. Chase just stared at her. "He never outright says 'piss me off and you're fired' or anything like that. He just has this way of talking to people that...makes it clear you aren't that important to him. Like, you're disposable."

"He's threatened you?" Chase asked her. Sarah just shook her head.

"He does it with pretty much everyone." She clarified. "The only people he doesn't scare are you guys and Betty, and that's because he knows he can't do anything to you guys."

"That's what I was worried about." Chase grumbled. "He can't do anything to me, but when this review comes out; he could take it out on her."

"Is it really that bad?" She asked him. He just gestured around the lab.

"Imagine wearing this as an outfit." He told her.

"Yikes!" Sarah commented. "So...we won't be getting five stars then."

Just then the alarm sounded. Sarah sighed, looking to Chase.

"Talk about saved by the bell, now I have to clean this all up."

"Thanks Sarah, you're a legend!" Chase replied as he ran out of the lab. She just threw her hands up in the air.

"Now I just need to figure out where Kendall keeps the..." She was interrupted however as a couple of small droids came out of hidden compartments in the wall and started to clean up. "OK, I guess I figured out how she stopped this place being completely trashed."

Deep within the city, citizens ran for their lives as Heckyl and Arcanon turned downtown Amber Beach into a war zone. Fury was battling Singe, looking for payback for his betrayal, while Wrench was trying his best to keep Doomwing at bay.

Heckyl was firing huge surges of power at Arcanon, but the mysterious new alien seemed to have an answer for everything he threw at him. He had decimated armies with his power, and yet this creature seemed to be able to deflect his blasts. He dodged around most of Arcanon's blasts, but finally one caught him full in the chest, sending him flying.

"That was just a taste of my power." Arcanon warned him. "Surrender and I'll spare your useless life."

"Sorry, but I don't bend a knee to anyone!" Heckyl snarled. As he was about to get up, he felt power surging within him, and his hand reached up to his neck. He could feel Snide rising, his rage bubbling over as he forced his way to the forefront of his consciousness. "NO, NOT NOW!"

Before Arcanon's eyes, Heckyl turned into Snide and pulled himself to his feet, levelling a sword his way.

"No more mister nice guy! Time to show you what REAL power is!" He screamed. "MAGNA BEAM!"

Arcanon, Singe and Doomwing all looked upward as Fortress was hit, growing up to giant size. Snide leapt inside to take the controls. However, while he was expecting them to flee, Arcanon and his crew seemed to just gather in the street, staring up at him.

"Impressive!" Arcanon conceded s he was forced to throw up an energy shield to stop them being obliterated by the first blast. "But I have more than just my own power! Doomwing! Show them what we can do!"

Tyler, Shelby, Riley, Koda and Ivan were already on their way to the site of the battle, being a couple of streets away when Fortress grew. However, what happened next, none of them were prepared for. They all skidded to a halt as the T-Rex Zord burst into view.

"Rexy?" Tyler asked, looking completely confused. "Guys...I didn't call him yet!"

Tyler pulled out his Dino Charger, finding it was still there, but something felt different. It was like there was no power in it. Shelby pointed upwards.

"Look, the Plesio and Pachy Zords are coming too!" Shelby called out, summoning the appropriate chargers. "What's going on? Who's doing that?"

"Do you think...it could be the Silver Ranger?" Ivan asked.

They all watched as the Megazord threw out an attack with its wrecking ball, taking almost an entire floor out of a building and sending debris flying down into the street.

"Whoever it is has no concept of collateral damage!" Riley gulped. "We need to get out there and stop this."

"Great, any idea how?" Shelby asked him.

"I'm...sure we'll think of something." Riley answered in as confident a way as he could given the circumstances.

In another part of the city, GMa Betty let herself into Kendall's apartment, being careful not to make any sound as she opened the door. She was carrying some Thai take-out with her.

Looking around, she couldn't see any sign of Kendall or Matt in the Living Room. Having visited Matt and told him about Kendall's procedure, she had been delighted to hear that Matt had checked himself out of the hospital. She guessed he had come over. Finding that they weren't in the Living Room was an encouraging sign.

Betty knew that she was interfering, but as Kendall's grandmother, she felt that it was kind of expected of her to interfere in her life. Even without all the E-mails she'd had from Kendall telling her all about him and their time together, it was clear to her how much Matt meant to her. Kendall had a difficult time growing up, never really quite fitting in with a lot of people, and so when she finally did, and Betty could tell how happy it made her, she felt obligated to make sure that Kendall didn't find a way to push them away.

She was about to leave the take-away and go, but Kendall came out of the bedroom. She was still wearing her sweats and her over-sized jersey. She stopped short; clearly surprised that Betty was there.

"Damn, you work fast." Betty said with a wry smile. Kendall just groaned and shook her head, going towards the coffee maker.

"I'll say, there aren't many people that can compile a synopsis, source references and schedule lab time for verification tests and still hammer out a draft three thousand word introduction in a single morning." She commented. Betty just looked to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you often do that kind of thing in your bedroom?" She asked. Kendall slammed her mug down on the counter.

"No, only when I get uninvited guests." She stated, turning on Betty. "Something I was HOPING wasn't your doing, but now you've just confirmed that Matt's little visit was down to you."

"And what if it was?" Betty asked her. "It's 2016 Doodlebug, people do drop rounds all the time these days..."

"Matt and I broke up!" Kendall told her. "It was..."

"It was a pretty dumb thing to do if you ask me." Betty interrupted her. "That young man worships you. Guys like him don't come around that often Doodlebug."

"Don't 'Doodlebug' me!" Kendall said angrily as she poured herself some coffee. "You had NO RIGHT to tell him about..."

"About what?" Betty asked her. "About the fact you're clearly still in love with him? The fact he's completely head over heels with you? The fact that the two of you are clearly SO happy with things as they are?"

"You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!" Kendall yelled at her. "That was..."

"I only told him..."

"It was NONE of his business!" She interrupted Betty. "My treatment was personal; it has nothing to do with him."

"Your treatment?" Betty asked her. "You do realise that treatment has a name don't you?"

"I think I know what it's called, I was the one that went under the knife." Kendall responded.

"Yes, and I was the one that was there when you came out of the OR and held your hand all the way through your chemotherapy." Betty responded, coming over to Kendall. She reached out for her granddaughter. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Who said I'm ashamed?" Kendall asked her. "I fought cancer and I won. That's all there is to say about it."

"If that's all there is to say about it then why are you so touchy about people knowing about it?" Betty asked her. Kendall didn't answer, just drinking her coffee.

"I don't want to talk about this." Kendall told her.

"You didn't want to talk about it then either!" Betty reminded her. "Do you think I don't know you didn't attend those counselling sessions they recommended for you?"

"What did I need counselling for?" Kendall asked her. "I fought cancer and cancer lost! I'm alive and it's not! There's nothing else to say about it!"

"If it makes you give up on one of the best things that happened to you, then maybe there is something more to talk about." Betty answered. "If you two broke up because of that..."

"What makes you think that's why we broke up?" Kendall asked her. "GMa, just because of that...treatment...that doesn't mean...that isn't why we broke up!"

"Then why did you?" Betty asked her.

"I am NOT having this conversation with my Grandmother." She said rather abruptly. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a lot of work to do."

"You did that back then too." Betty stated. "If you keep burying yourself in work, sooner or later you might not be able to dig yourself back out."

"Thanks for the take-out." Kendall stated in a tone that let Betty know the conversation was over, heading over and holding the door open. Betty just sighed and headed for the door. She stopped, gently stroking Kendall's cheek.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped a Boundary." Betty told her as she left. Kendall closed the door behind her. "But I don't think I'm wrong."

In her apartment, Kendall watched at the peep-hole, waiting until she saw Betty leave before turning to head back into her room. It was only then that she noticed her communicator flashing on the coffee table. She had set it on silent earlier and forgotten to change it back when she went to the bedroom to get away from Matt. Hoping she wasn't too late to help, she snatched up her communicator and sprinted out the door.

Back at the site of the battle, things were not going well for Amber Beach as Snide and Arcanon both fought for supremacy. The city was in a terrible situation that regardless of who won, the city was ultimately going to be the loser. Bizarrely, the Rangers were almost hoping that the new guy would win since he had somehow commandeered their Zords! If he lost, then potentially they would lose all the Zords, and with it, all hope for stopping Fortress.

Unfortunately, Wrench's latest masterpiece was functioning exactly as it was meant to. Every time Arcanon and his crew launched an attack, Fortress seemed to be able to come up with a perfect counter. Arcanon kept calling up more and more Zords, all of which fell beneath Fortress' fists.

"Damn it, if he keeps this up, by the time we figure out what's happening we won't have any Zords left!" Tyler complained as they ran into the area. They got there just as the Ptera Charge Megazord was knocked down, and Arcanon, Singe and Doomwing all had to eject, landing on the ground.

"There, that must be who took our Zords!" Chase called out. Doomwing was the first to his feet, holding something in his hand.

"We still have one more!" Doomwing declared. "We haven't tried the Titanozord!"

"Forget it! These Dino Chargers you made are useless! We came here for the Energems!" Arcanon stated as he swiped the last Dino Charger from Doomwing's hand. They all looked across in time to see the team arriving.

"That would be the Rangers." Singe confirmed to Arcanon. "My Lord, we do have other methods at our disposal. There's no reason to deal with them now."

"You can have your Zords back! They were useless!" Arcanon told them.

"We're not done with you yet Snide!" Doomwing said, before turning tail and running with a loud, shrieking cackle. The Rangers just watched them go.

"Those must be..."

"Forget them for now." Tyler stated. "We have to stop Snide from destroying the city."

"But how?" Shelby asked. Just then, Riley noticed something by his feet. Bending down, he picked up the Titano Charger.

"Guys, check this out!" Riley stated, pulling out another Titano Charger. "That big bird thing dropped this. This must be how they took control of our Zords!"

"It's identical!" Shelby confirmed.

"We can figure out how they did it later." Tyler stated. "In the meantime, they abandoned the Zords; we can probably control them again."

The Rangers leapt into the Zords, bringing the damaged and weakened machines back into the fight. Unfortunately, they were faring as well as Arcanon had.

"You pathetic Rangers can't defeat Fortress, it is the ultimate weapon!" Wrench's voice boomed through an intercom. "It's programmed with all of your moves!"

"It knows our moves?" Riley complained. "Then how can we defeat it?"

"Everything we throw at it he either blocks, dodges or throws straight back at us!" Chase confirmed as his Para Zord Blast was deflected straight back at the Ptera Charge Megazord.

"Guys, I think I might be able to help." They heard Sarah's voice over the intercom. "I've got an idea, it's kind of out there and it's VERY experimental..."

"Well, I'm open to suggestions!" Shelby stated as the Titanozord she was piloting took a hard hit. "Right now I'm willing to try anything!"

"Chase, it's kind of like your pavlova." Sarah stated. The team just went completely silent.

"Wait...come again?" Chase asked.

"There was a German philosopher Frecerick Neitche who said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." She rattled off as the team continued to try and find some way to catch Fortress off guard, using all four of their Megazords to surround him in the hopes of splitting his attention. "You said you followed your aunt's recipe every time, so I checked it out. You must have made a mistake copying it because there was a flaw in the recipe. It mixed baking soda with citric acid...kind of like a school science fair volcano, only on a bigger scale. Because of that mistake in the recipe, it was always going to explode every time!"

"So that helps with the pavlova, how does that help us?" Tyler asked, hoping Sarah would get to the point.

"I think the point Sarah's trying to make is that if this monster knows what we've done before, maybe we need to show it something new!" Kendall stated though the intercom as she finally arrived.

"Ms Morgan!" Sarah shrieked in delight. "Um...how did you...?"

"Do you think barring me from the museum could keep me out? I designed the security system!" Kendall told her, looking at her in a disbelieving manner. "I could sneak in here with a marching band if I felt like it and Flash wouldn't be any the wiser!"

"Glad to have you on tech support." Tyler stated. "Now what about this new programme?"

"I haven't tested it yet, but I've been working on a way to combine the power of all the Zords." She told them. "It could be risky, I haven't..."

"If we wait much longer then there won't be much left of the Zords to try it with!" Chase told her. "I say we go with it!"

"Alright, I'm downloading the schematics to you now." Kendall responded. "Everybody cross every one of your fingers!"


	4. Fortress Crumbles

The Plesiozord sparked and crashed through a building as Fortress fended it off, while the Titanozord struggled to hold it.

"Watch what you're doing Riley, that's MY Zord!" Kendall reminded him over the intercom. "You're just borrowing it!"

"At least I asked first." Riley answered as he tried to haul the Zord back to its feet. "This Fortress thing is really cleaning our clocks here Ms Morgan!"

"I know, just bear with me, I have a few more lines of code to enter." She told him. Sarah was in the background, pacing nervously.

"Is there anything I can do to...?"

"You could try not distracting me while I'm working!" Kendall told her. Sarah just backed off. "Alright, I think this is it...I'm bringing the charger to you now!"

"Bringing it?" Tyler asked. "Can't you transfer the data or something?"

"I need to be there, the power output needs as many Rangers as possible!" She told them. "Try to hold on as long as you can!" Kendall told them. "Try to keep the focus on the Plesiozord, the Pachy Zord and the Ankylo Zord. The new combination requires your fist five Zords and the Titanozord!"

"So I'm playing decoy?" Riley asked. "What happened to 'careful with my Zord'?"

"We can worry about repairs later." Kendall told him, snatching the new charger out of her machinery. "I'm on my way."

A little way off, Arcanon, Singe and Doomwing had set up a vantage point on a nearby parking garage. Although they wanted to abandon the battle, they didn't really want to go too far. Knowing who won was going to be an important factor in whatever their next step was.

"Heckyl always was troublesome." Singe stated. "I never did get why you wanted him."

"Who says it was him I wanted?" Arcanon asked, patting his book gently. "This has provided me with strong allies in the past. Isn't that right Doomwing?"

"He doesn't seem to have control over his transformations." Doomwing told him. "If it was just Snide we were dealing with, it might be a different matter!"

"Don't forget it took you a while to deal with your other too." Arcanon reminded him as they saw someone arriving on the scene. "Who is that?"

"That would be the Purple Ranger. She's the one that provides them with all their technology." Singe informed him. "You should have heard Wrench whining about her all day. He never did get over her turning all of his toys into scrap. When she shows up, you know they're up to something."

"Like what? Their Zords are barely holding together! They're scrap metal waiting to happen!" Doomwing protested. Singe just chuckled.

"Oh, you always did rely so much on your weapons Doomwing." Singe teased him.

As Kendall arrived, she took her place in the Megazord cockpit, where Tyler was at the main podium. She handed him the new charger.

"Is this it?" Tyler asked her.

"It's the last, best shot we have." Kendall told him. "I'm calling it...the Dino Charge Ultrazord."

"I guess we didn't get this far playing it safe." Tyler commented. "Alright guys, everyone ready? This is going to get WILD!...I hope!"

Singe was moving in on the Titanozord, hoping to take it out of the battle altogether, when it started to break up. The pieces flew straight at him, catching him completely off-guard and unbalancing Fortress. He struggled to keep it upright.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He remarked, before turning around. There, standing right behind him, was a Zord combination he had never seen in any of the databases. It stood taller than fortress, and seemed to be coming straight for him.

"These power levels, they're incredible!" Chase commented. "Wait...are they going up?"

"I knew the zords were stronger together, but...where's all this power coming from?" Tyler asked Kendall. They all looked to the console as Sarah's face appeared on the computer.

"Hey guys...um...I took the liberty of re-routing some power away from some less-essential systems." She told them.

"What systems?" Kendall demanded of her. Sarah just looked sheepish.

"Well...let's just say it's a good job you back up your files in here regularly." She answered. Kendall just smiled in response.

"Good work." She answered. "We can worry about that later. In the meantime, let's take care of Fortress for good!"

In the cockpit, Snide was rocked as the Ultrazord attacked. His systems started to go haywire and smoke started billowing into the cockpit.

"No, nothing is working!" He complained. "We've never seen this Megazord combination before!"

This moment of doubt, this panic was all it took for Heckyl to push himself to the fore once again. Snide screamed out as in a flash of light, Heckyl once more claimed control of their body. He pulled out his pocket-watch to taunt his other self.

"A Megazord is a Megazord." Heckyl reminded him. "We just have to adapt!"

Unfortunately for him though, that was easier said than done. All the systems were set up to repel the attacks of the known Zords. Right now, the creature had no idea how to react to anything the Rangers threw at him. Heckyl had to throw himself out the way as a thrust from their spear weapon breached the armour, coming straight into the cockpit. Only his quick reflexes stopped him being impaled by the Raptor Zord's blades. He looked up in horror to see that the controls had been completely destroyed.

Heckyl could see the chest plate of the Ultrazord powering up for something and did the only thing he could, diving out of the creature moments before they launched their final attack. He plunged towards the earth, landing hard on the concrete far below, a quick flare of his power being the only thing stopping him meeting a sticky end.

As he lay on the concrete, struggling to regain his breath, he looked up, only to see Singe, Arcanon and Doomwing all standing around him. In his weakened state, he couldn't even peel himself off the ground.

"There's no need to look for your minions, if they know what's good for them, they'll see where the REAL power is!" Arcanon taunted him. Heckyl struggled to get up, blood leaking from his mouth. Arcanon just laughed. "Lock him up...again!"

Heckyl could do nothing as Singe grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to his feet. He just smirked at him.

"I told you, you have no idea who I'm working for." He stated as Doomwing brought the hilt of his Zord straight into Heckyl's face, knocking him cold. Singe tossed his limp, lifeless body over his shoulder as they all turned and walked away. "Come, I'll show you where the rest of your army is Lord Arcanon."

Back at the Dino Lab, the team had gathered to decompress after the battle. It took a while to re-boot everything Sarah had to shut down, and the Zords were now in their hangars on an auto repair program.

"It'll take some time before they're a hundred percent." Tyler sighed. "But at least we didn't lose any."

"That wasn't for lack of trying though, that Fortress was a BEAST!" Chase conceded. "It looked like for once Wrench might have put together something that might actually succeed."

"Speaing of tech, we still have this to worry about." Sarah told them, showing them the Titano Charger Riley had recovered from the site of the battle. "I just checked this thing out, it's an exact replica of the ones Ms Morgan made."

"You mean they managed to make a copy..."

"No, I mean...schematically it is an EXACT copy!" Sarah clarified. "The wiring, the circuitry, everything...it's all identical to Ms Morgan's work. The only way that would happen..."

"...Is if they had our data." Kendall concluded. "Apart from us, the only other one that has our data is the Silver Ranger."

"But that would mean he gave them our data. Why would he do that?" Tyler asked.

"The Silver Energem never bond to anyone evil." Koda interjected, scratching his head. "Maybe someone dress like Silver Ranger to trick us?"

"No, the energy signatures from his communications matched ours." Kendall told him. "Sarah, are you sure you encrypted the data?"

"I did, I used the encryption you told me to." Sarah confirmed, showing Kendall the message. "It was definitely the Silver Ranger that got the message."

"Then there is one other logical conclusion." Ivan declared. "Perhaps he didn't have a choice. Perhaps he was coerced."

"I hate to say it, but it makes a lot of sense." Shelby sighed. "So the question is, what do we do now?"

"What else can we do?" Ivan asked. "The Silver Ranger is an ally, regardless of what he has been forced to do against his will. If he is indeed in the foul clutches of this Arcanon, we have a duty to free him."

"He's right." Tyler agreed. "That only leaves us with one problem. Where is Arcanon?"

Meanwhile, over on Heckyl's ship, Fury and Wrench were licking their wounds, recovering from their battle and trying to figure out their next move. So far, the only thing that seemed to be evident was that Arcanon was not someone to be trifled with. In one afternoon, he had managed to take over the Rangers' Zords and as a result, had forced not only the Rangers, but Heckyl to commit their most powerful weapons to a battle to no real loss to himself.

"From now on, things will be different!" Fury stated. "Now that I'm in charge..."

"YOU'RE in charge?" Wrench yelled. "What makes YOU in charge?"

"What, do you think you'd fare better?" Fury scoffed. "What makes you think...?"

"I'm not saying I'm in charge, I'm ready to just leave Earth and forget all about ever hearing the word Energems!" Wrench whined. "I've already found a job with Galaxy Warriors. They're looking for a new technical producer."

"You have the opportunity to share in ultimate power over the universe, and you instead want to run off and work on some stupid game show?" Fury responded.

"The pay's good." Wrench answered with a shrug. Just then, they heard some screams and a commotion outside. They ran into the hall to find Arcanon, Singe and Doomwing standing there, with defeated Spikeballs littered all around them. Singe was carrying Heckyl, while Doomwing had his sword drawn at the ready.

"So this is Sledge's ship? How the mighty have fallen!" Arcanon stated as they came inside. "Lock Heckyl up, I'll deal with him later!"

"I remember how much you liked solitary." Singe said as he carried Heckyl towards the huge steel door to his old cell. He threw him inside, before slamming the door shut. By now, the corridor was filled with monsters, all wanting to see what was going on. Singe drew his sword. "Lord Arcanon is in command now. If any of you have a problem with that, you can answer to me or Doomwing! Is that understood?"

The monsters started filing back into their cells dutifully, though with a few grumbles that could be heard. It seemed like they had all heard this before, and while Heckyl was a lot more unstable and random in his swings between pointless acts of brutality and even handed empowerment, on the whole he at least allowed them a lot more free reign on the ship, never once locking the cells since he took over and even ensuring that they had better food than they ever did under Sledge. Time would tell what kind of boss Arcanon was, but one thing was clear. Given the state Heckyl was in when they dragged him into the ship, none of them wanted to take the gamble until they at least saw what Arcanon was willing to offer.

Singe turned to Arcanon as Doomwing left to go and check on the ship to see what they had at their disposal now, pulling in closely.

"Heckyl is nothing but a headache. For all his power his insanity makes him unpredictable and dangerous." Singe told him, voicing his concerns. "If you want my advice, I say we should destroy him now and save ourselves the aggravation."

"He'll behave." Arcanon told him, opening his book, looking at the glowing object inside. "As long as I have this, nothing can stop us!"

In his cell, Heckyl was only just coming around, but as he did, he caught a glimpse of glowing energy from Arcanon's book. Dragging himself to the bars of his cell, he looked up, and there inside the book, he saw an Energem, glowing with a deep, dark, violet light. He smiled as he saw this.

"So, the rumours are true, there IS another one." Heckyl commented. "Now that I know the source of your power, all I need is to get out of here."

He dragged himself into a corner and propped himself up, pulling out a handkerchief and beginning to clean himself up as best he could.

"Make yourself nice and comfortable Arcanon." He said with a little bit of a laugh. "With a little time to plan I'm all but unstoppable!"

Kendall was arriving back at her apartment block, only to find Matt in the hallway, struggling with some bags. He looked like he was trying to open the door to the apartment the guys shared across from her. He looked to be in great discomfort, by all rights he should still be in a hospital bed getting round the clock care, and yet here he was carrying groceries. She came across, taking his hand gently in hers, finding that he had a key that he was struggling to get into the lock while carrying the bags. She took it off him.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I think the technical term is grocery shopping." He answered. Kendall just glared at him. This was her power move, the one that normally cowed anyone she did it to into submission. However, Matt just laughed a little. He had become immune to the all-powerful death-glare over the time they had been together, he had just come to find most of her mannerisms and personality quirks enticing, even the ones that were normally terrifying.

"You know what I mean." Kendall answered.

"I don't like hospitals much, but I think it's pretty clear I'm in no state to go back to the farm yet." He answered. Kendall opened the door for him, allowing him inside. "With Chase moving out, the guys said they could afford the space to let me stay here for a little while. I figured it was the least I could do to make sure they at least had some food for when they came back."

"You really should be in a hospital." She reiterated.

"I don't do hospitals." He told her. "Besides, this place has other attractions."

Kendall just took a deep breath as he said this. He just came across, looking to her.

"I'm sorry, I know what I did, what I said was clumsy and not well thought out and...alright, I'll admit it, I really don't understand what that was like." He told her. "But...I want to understand."

"Matt, this isn't going to change anything." Kendall told him. "What happened had to have happened for a reason."

"That's just the thing Kendall, not everything DOES happen for a reason." He told her. "Kendall, sometimes bad things happen in the world, and they're cruel and unfair and it really sucks, but..."

"I'm not talking about what happened to me." Kendall answered.

"Neither was I." Matt agreed. "I don't claim to know what's going on with you, but just know I want to, and I'm willing to wait as long as it takes."

"Matt, this isn't going to work." Kendall told him. "I get that this is difficult for you, but you should just let go."

"That's the thing, you're pretty hard to let go of." Matt answered with a smile, laying back on the couch and pulling his hat down over his face. "Now if you don't mind, the grocery run kind of wiped me out. I need to rest up. Feel free to let yourself out."

Kendall put his key down on the counter and left the apartment, heading back to her own apartment. She didn't like being so close to Matt. It reminded her what she had missed so much in the time they had been apart, reminded her of everything that a part of her still wanted. However, there wasn't really anything she could do short of forcing him to leave. She went back into her room, hoping to bury herself in her work. Hopefully Matt would soon learn to move on...maybe if he did, she would figure out how to do so as well.


	5. Number One Contender

At a ballroom in Summer Cove, the latest of Carl's shows was going over well with the fans. He had declared a tournament to name a number one contender to Alessandra's heavyweight championship, which had brought out the very best in a lot of the competitors, all of whom wanted to look like credible threats to her title reign.

It excused Alessandra from competing for a while as well. People were so focused on the tournament to name her challenger that it distracted from the fact she was only at shows to make appearances and occasionally take part in tag matches. Her knee injury was still an issue, and unfortunately they now knew that she was going to have to take time out to get surgery. The only thing they could do was to limit how much she had to work on it until they could get someone to take the title in her absence and explain away her absence to the crowd in a storyline.

The tournament had been tremendous not just for fans but also the wrestlers. Some of them were really pulling out career-making performances to get noticed and advance themselves up the ranks, and with some of them competing several times in one night, all of them, even those who ended up losing, were making a real name for themselves with fans and seeing a significant bump in their merchandise sales.

Behind the curtain, Alessandra was finishing getting dressed in her full ring gear. Although she wasn't competing that night to preserve her for the championship bout the following night, she was scheduled to be at ringside for the tournament final. It made sense for the champion to be there to see who her challenger would be. She had finished her face paint and applied her head dress, but one of the legs of her tights was rolled up, showing how heavily taped up her knee was. One of the staffers was waiting to give her a shot of painkillers to help her put on a show of strength on the way to the ring. Carl came in, carrying the schedule.

"It's nearly time." He told her. "Are you alright?"

"I fine." She told him. "Just wish Koda here."

Koda was still on a short hiatus after Jack broke up their tag team and left him laying in the ring. To sell the assault, he had now missed a few shows to make the injuries seem a lot more serious than they had been to fans, and get them eager to see Koda return and enact his revenge. Carl nodded in understanding. By the time Koda came back, Alessandra would just be starting her time off to get the surgery and recover for her return. It meant for a while at least, they weren't going to be on shows together.

"Has he called?" Carl asked her. Alessandra just smiled and nodded. "Alright, you're up."

Alessandra winced as the staffer shoved the needle into her leg, injecting her with the painkiller so that she would be able to walk to ringside without a noticeable limp. He rolled down the leg of her tights and checked she was alright, before leaving the room.

"Alright, remember, that's still your crowd out there." Carl assured her. Alessandra got up and headed for the curtain, waiting for her call.

Over in Amber Beach University, Kendall had scheduled some time to use the lab there and get some of her artefacts verified. While she didn't really need confirmation that they were genuine herself, having picked them up from Koda's cave in Alaska and having Koda confirm that they were the possessions of his family, that wasn't going to be enough for the scientific community. She had made a bold and ambitious choice for her PhD thesis, deciding to write about Koda's family and bring to light some of the most well-preserved artefacts of early man that were ever discovered. Her paper was also going to bring to light some wild and revolutionary ideas about how the world would view early Homo Sapiens. Many of the artefacts they had found, particularly in the forbidden area of the cave that even Koda was unaware of, housed technology that common wisdom stated didn't exist for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years after Koda's tribe were long since gone! If she was going to do so, she would need some verification from independent sources in order for her paper to be taken even a little seriously.

There was already one member of the team that knew what it was like to push controversial and revolutionary ideas into the field. Before his disappearance, James had become a figure of renown in his field, though not always for the right reasons. He had been one of the most respected and celebrated palaeontologists in the field, but when he started proposing theories involving aliens and suggesting the asteroid shower that wiped out the dinosaurs was no accident but a targeted attack perpetrated by extraterrestrial intelligent life forms, he started to be scorned at best, and his sanity questioned at worst by a significant portion of his colleagues. It was bold to propose new ideas anyway, but to do so as the work that she hoped would earn her the PhD she should have gotten years before was certainly ambitious in the least. Of course, Kendall Morgan did not do things by halves, go big or go home, that was her way!

"If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it!" One of the professors said in a hushed whisper, looking at the computer readout from one of Kendall's most prized finds, an atlatl, or spear-thrower that she had discovered. It was a small rod with a tiny hook at the end, designed to effectively extend the length of the throwing arm and allow for a much longer throw. It wasn't much to the untrained eye, but to someone like Kendall and the professor, it was like finding a lightbulb in a Saxon village. The earliest atlatl that had been found anywhere else had been in Aztec ruins dating their invention thousands of years later! He had, at Kendall's insistence, put it through detailed analysis to verify its age. Between the flint used in the hook, and the wood of the shaft, it only took a couple of hours to verify that it was fabricated over a hundred thousand years earlier. "Where the hell did you find this?"

"The same place I found the rest of it." Kendall told him with a shrug. "So, what do you think? Can I cite you as a verifying source?"

"To have my name attached to a discovery like this you could strip me naked and paint the words 'this is real' all over me!" He responded with the kind of childish enthusiasm Kendall often felt when she made major discoveries. She just forced a smile.

"Well...we don't need to go that far, but a report of verification and a printout of these reports would be fantastic." She told him. He just nodded.

"You don't need to ask twice!" He stated as he started tapping some keys. "I'll type a personal testimonial and have that to you in a couple of days, but these reports should be with you in a few minutes."

"Thank you." Kendall answered as he went to attend to other duties. As he was leaving, he had to pass Margaret, who was just wheeling her way into the lab.

"Excuse me." Margaret said as he passed her. "Hey there, I heard you were here."

"I have a lot of time on my hands these days." Kendall answered as she looked to her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Phillipe's talking to some of the administration about starting up a scholarship scheme and provisions for helping Zandarian student admissions." She told her. "I heard you were down here and figured talking to my Maid of Honour about my bachelorette party might be more interesting than listening to all that boring stuff."

"Damn it, I completely forgot about that!" Kendall exclaimed as she pulled up a chair to sit with Margaret at her level to speak to her. "I'm sorry; I've had a lot on my mind."

"Even though you have all this time on your hands?" Margaret asked her. "I kind of heard through the grapevine about Matt."

"I'm going to kill Phillipe." Kendall grumbled. Margaret just feigned shock.

"Can I at least get married before you turn me into a widow?" She joked. "He didn't say anything; he just mentioned that you pulled Matt out that Zord and that he was in town."

"Yeah, he's in town and living across the hall from me." Kendall told her.

"Isn't he meant to be in a hospital?" Margaret asked her. Kendall just nodded.

"He should be, but he insists on being close to me and..." Kendall shook her head and tried to look away.

"I heard about that rescue, it was pretty intense." Margaret commented, looking to Kendall.

"You sound just like my grandmother." Kendall responded grumpily. "Can you just drop it please? We broke up for a reason."

"Kendall, what happened to you shouldn't drive you apart. It's clear you're still crazy about him." Margaret said as she took Kendall's hand.

"But this is still always going to be an issue." Kendall told her. "Let's just say we do get together. What happens five years from now? Ten years from now? It's not an issue with shades of gray. Do you think I want Matt to be looking at me and thinking about the life he could have had? To resent me for missing out on the family he wants?"

"Kendall, I understand you wanting to avoid that, but this isn't exactly a coffin-nail." Margaret told her. "I'm not exactly thrilled about the fact we buried my leg beneath the rose garden, but I can learn to adapt. We both can."

"Margaret, family isn't in my future." Kendall told her. Margaret just looked at her a little curiously.

"Well, the last I heard that wasn't exactly the way you said it to Matt." She answered sympathetically.

"I don't know what you want to hear Margaret, but this really is none of your business." Kendall said, trying to end the conversation.

"You said to him you didn't want kids, that they had never been in your plans." Margaret responded. "If that's the case I can totally get it. You want different things, and that's a thing that just isn't going to go away. I get that."

"Fine, then can we please drop the subject?" Kendall responded, going back to the computer to see if the reports had come through.

"But it's clear you're still crazy about him." Margaret reiterated. "It's clear you're not happy and that makes the people that care about you unhappy."

"Then the people that care about me need to mind their own business!" Kendall stated bluntly. Margaret wheeled around in front of Kendall to where she could see her.

"Fine, then tell me what you told him, tell him that this doesn't bother you, that you never wanted a family anyway and that that isn't going to change." Margaret told her. "You tell me that and I swear that's the last word I'll ever say on the subject."

"I don't want to..."

"Kendall, just say it." Margaret interrupted her. "Why is it so hard for you to just say...?"

"Because I don't KNOW if I wanted kids!" Kendall yelled at her. "I was 17! I hadn't thought about family or how many kids I wanted or even if I wanted kids!"

Margaret just stared at her as tears started to run down Kendall's face.

"I was a kid, I didn't think about any of that stuff. I was thinking about uni and what courses I wanted to do, what kind of job I wanted to do...hell, I put more thought into the bus schedules than I did into family." Kendall admitted. "It was just...something that might or might not happen, something that I never thought about because that was some time way out then and there was time for me to think about it when I was older...then along comes some doctor and tells me that if I want to live I need to have a..."

Kendall still couldn't find herself able to say the word out loud. Margaret was almost regretting beginning this conversation seeing how much it upset Kendall, but she could now see that she was seeing more of Kendall on this issue than anyone had been able to see.

"I was 17 and I was told that door was closed to me forever." Kendall said as she looked at Margaret. Margaret couldn't answer her, instead just gesturing to Kendall to come over, and pulled her down, wrapping her arms around her and holding the Purple Ranger tightly.

Back in Summer Cove, the final match was underway, with Alessandra watching at ringside. She kept her attention on the ring, blanking out the crowd, many of whom were chanting for her, keeping up her appearance of scouting her opposition.

The final came down to Hirohito, a young performer from Nagasaki who had been making waves in the short time he had been in the states, and Jack. Jack in his new attitude and persona since declaring he had turned his back on Koda and was now only looking out for himself had taken on, if possible, a far more intense and aggressive persona. He had blasted through the competition like a blowtorch through butter, dismantling many people in brutal fashion in his race to the title match. That he was also willing now to take shortcuts in his matches had also helped.

Hirohito had him in the corner, hitting Jack with stiff chops that resounded around the arena. As was common in many arenas, with every chop that hit, the crowd would elicit a huge "whoo" in reference to Ric Flair, who popularised this in his matches. Hirohito whipped Jack across the ring to the opposite corner, before signalling for his big move. He finished matches with a running boot to the face to an opponent in the corner, but as he signalled to the crowd what was coming, Jack got to work, grabbing the top turnbuckle pad and ripping it off. By the time Hirohito was ready and running towards him, Jack was ready for him.

He ran out to meet the younger wrestler, grabbing him and propelling him up into the air, before falling backwards, driving Hiriohito's face into the exposed steel turnbuckle. The young man staggered around, clearly dazed by the blow, allowing Jack to snatch him, placing his head between his legs. He turned and faced Alessandra, pointing to her and making a cut throat gesture, before raising Hiriohito up, turning him upside down.

The crowd held their breath, the piledriver, the move that had put Koda on the shelf, and Jack was about to do it again. He dropped to his backside, before letting Hirohito to flop lifelessly to the mat. He lay across him, pinning him, all while staring straight at Alessandra. As the referee's hand was coming down for a third time though, Jack lifted his shoulder, breaking the count. The crowd booed loudly, he had the match won, but he wanted to send a message to the champion.

Jack lifted Hirohito, who was all but a dead weight by now, and set him up again for the piledriver. As he hit the second, he covered him, again the referee started to count, but Jack broke it at the last moment. As Jack was starting to drag Hirohito to his feet once more, the referee had seen enough and called for the bell.

"The referee has stopped this match, ruling that Hirohito is no longer capable of defending himself!" The ring announcer declared as Jack just stared at the referee in disgust, before tossing the younger wrestler through the ropes to the floor outside, where trainers flocked around the prone wrestler to administer treatment. "Your winner, and new number one contender, 'The Deer Hunter', Jack Malone!"

The crowd let their anger be known as they hurled boos and expletives his way. Alessandra got to her feet as Jack snatched a microphone from the ring announcer, directing his attention her way.

"I put you all on notice, and I've done everything I said I would!" Jack declared, before pointing directly at Alessandra. "You better enjoy this time while you have it. Keep that belt nice and warm for me, because soon, I'm coming to skin myself a jaguar!"

Alessandra rolled into the ring, getting to her feet and standing before Jack, staring straight into his eyes, unflinching. Like everyone else she faced, he was significantly taller than her, but that didn't phaze her in the slightest. She stepped right up to him, standing only inches apart, and held her belt high overhead. Jack just smirked, before taking a couple of paces back and flipping over the ropes to the outside, beginning to make his way up the ramp as Alessandra's music hit. The crowd roared as she held her belt aloft. The match was set, and the crowd was eating it up.


	6. Ranger In Distress

Early in the morning, Allison came out of the bathroom, drying her hair after her shower, only to find Chase in the process of making breakfast for them both. It hadn't been long since they had moved in together, and the apartment was far from a palace, but it was theirs. The mis-matched furniture, which was a mish-mash of everything their friends and family were about to throw out or could spare until they could gather funds for furniture of their own didn't detract from the fact that this space was theirs, somewhere that no one could tell them what to do, or how to do it. She smiled as she came to the counter, where Chase was just starting to plate up.

"Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on lightly toasted wry, just the way the lady likes it." Chase said as he gestured to her plate.

"So what's the occasion?" She asked him.

"The occasion, dear lady, is that Flash took one look at the review Mrs Allister was going to give his gourmet restaurant and u-turned on the idea extremely quickly...after paying off the paper not to publish the review." Chase told her. "So, he had a whole lot of up-market stock to get rid of in a hurry and I was only too happy to take our fair share."

"I meant you cooking actually." She teased him as she sat down, beginning to eat. Chase had wanted to bring this subject up to her ever since the way he saw Flash treated her in the kitchen.

"I just figured that after everything you put up with lately, you could use a treat." He answered. Allison didn't respond, being too busy eating. Chase figured if they were going to talk, he needed to bring up the subject. "Allison, I was meaning to ask, do you mind if we talk about Flash for a minute?"

"Flash?" She asked him. "He's an arsehole, what else is there to say?"

"I couldn't help noticing the way he dealt with you in the kitchen." Chase stated. "The way he touched you?"

Allison spluttered and almost started laughing.

"Flash? Seriously? You honestly think that I'd...Chase, I wouldn't go near him if I didn't get a pay check from the guy!" She said, trying to make light of the situation. Chase just looked a little unconvinced. "Chase, you do know..."

"No, I don't mean there was anything romantic or anything...it might have been sleazy I don't know but..." He tried hard to explain how he felt about the way he had seen her being treated. Allison had just been voicing a genuine concern over the direction of the restaurant, and Flash had grabbed her, quite literally putting her in the corner like a child. He had even been demeaning enough to pat her on the head like a loyal puppy. It had bothered him at first, but after talking with Leanne, who had tried to reassure him by saying that Flash treated pretty much everyone that wasn't the Rangers in a similar manner, Chase had only gotten more irritated by the thought. "It seemed really disrespectful, I don't know...patronising."

"Yeah, that's Flash alright." Allison grumbled. "Patronising, moody, petulant, bullying..."

"Bullying?" Chase asked as he heard this. "Allison, has he threatened you?"

Allison just paused as he said this. It wasn't something she had told Chase about, but he had once threatened her when she had made a remark about how his policies negatively affected the restaurant. He had closed in on her, standing over her, forcing her to bend backwards over the counter as he took up her personal space.

"It's...it's not a big deal." Allison told him.

"It is to me." Chase responded. "What did he do?" Allison didn't want to complain, her job was what allowed the cafe to keep functioning while the Rangers ran off to defend the city. She wasn't a fighter, having once lost a fight to her eight year old cousin when she was in her teens, and she most certainly wasn't a scientist or tech head, but this was one thing she could do, one thing she was really good at that could help the Rangers. In her own way, that was how she helped save the world.

"It was back when he was buying shitty produce for the cafe." She told him. "I said something about it and he got really intense, really up in my face about it...like...literally."

Chase looked like he didn't really get what she was meaning. Allison got up and made her way around to his side of the counter. It was difficult to give him a real idea because he was a lot bigger than her, but she manoeuvred him into a corner and stood right inside his personal space.

"This is actually kind of nice..."

She then leaned in, at which Chase leaned back. Quickly, he found himself bent backwards uncomfortably over the counter.

"OK, this isn't so nice." He conceded.

"He also said that if I didn't like it I could always find another job, that he could get one of dozens of people to do it that wouldn't complain." Allison told him. Chase started to feel anger rising in him. Flash couldn't do anything to the Rangers, they worked for Anton, their contracts were with him, not the museum. However, everyone at the museum was more or less his to do with as he saw fit. It wasn't as though they had a union or anything, virtually no one in the service industry was unionised. Not when it was cheaper and easier for companies to simply replace people that caused them problems.

"He can't do that." He told her. "You should have told me, I could..."

"You can do what Chase?" She asked him. "He can't fire you, he can fire me. You know as well as I do that between both of us we pretty much make enough to get by here."

"Allison, he threatened you!" Chase reminded her. "If you'd told me I could have..."

"You could have threatened him right back and then we'd have another Ranger banned from the museum!" She answered him. "Not to mention he'd probably find a reason to fire me shortly after."

Chase started to back down a little. Allison had a point, there wasn't much Flash could do to him. Hell, if he got banned from the museum, it would basically be like a paid holiday for him. Anton would still pay his salary; he just wouldn't be able to go into the museum and work. That didn't sound like too bad a deal, but what he could do was take it out on the others at the museum. Allison, Leanne and Sarah all had contracts with the museum. She backed up a little, letting him out of the corner, but looked dejected as she did so.

"Look, I'm not happy about this either, but there's not much I can do about it." She answered. "This is the first time I had a job I really care about, and you know what...it's a job I'm really good at too..."

"You're the best. Everyone says that!" Chase agreed. "Ms Morgan was singing your praises all the time. The place never ran better."

"Flash may have found a way of making me feel completely worthless in my job, but I can deal with it." Allison assured him. "You guys have nine Energems, there's another one on its way here. Pretty soon you'll have all ten. You'll be able to focus on getting rid of Heckyl and Alkaseltzer..."

"Arcanon." Chase corrected her.

"Whatever." She sighed. "You can focus on getting rid of those guys for good. Once that's done, if Flash thinks I'm worthless, that's his problem. I'm sure there are places that will be only too happy to hire me."

"You shouldn't have to deal with this..."

"And YOU shouldn't have to deal with getting shot and blown up every other day, but you do." Allison said with a smile. "If putting up with that dickhead for another few months is what I can do to make that happen, I think I've got the better end of the deal."

"You really are amazing do you know that?" Chase asked her as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in. "Just, in future if he gives you shit, tell me about it."

"You can be sure of that." Allison answered, kissing him softly. "Now, can you let me go while the food is still warm?"

"If I have to." Chase answered, releasing her and allowing her to go back to her breakfast. He still wasn't happy about how she was being treated, but she had made a point. For now, if he intervened, Flash was only likely to make things much worse. He was already looking forward to when there would be no more monsters to fight, but thinking that would be when they could be rid of Flash for good just made him wish for it all the more.

Matt was in the apartment when he heard a knock at the door. He smiled as he got up and headed for the door, but was a little surprised to find Margaret standing in the doorway. She had her hand on the wall, and a walking stick to help steady herself.

"Would you mind letting me in?" She asked him, tapping the side of her leg. "I'm still getting the hang of this thing."

"Of course!" He said, gesturing her inside and helping guide her towards the couch. "Jeez Margaret, how did you even get here?"

"Phillipe's in the car outside, he agreed to let me come up and see Kendall, show her the progress I'm making with the prosthetic." Margaret told him as she flopped down into the couch. "Maybe taking the stairs was a little ambitious."

"Ambitious? You only had the amputation a few months back!" Matt responded. She just glared at him.

"Yes, I'm going to listen to a lecture on taking medical advice from a guy that should still be in a hospital ward." She responded rather sharply. Matt had to concede that point.

"Um...Kendall's not in her apartment; she left for the university this morning." He informed her.

"I kind of figured that's where she'd be." Margaret told him. Matt looked a little confused by this.

"But...you said..."

"That's what I told Phillipe to get him to bring me around here." She interrupted him. "It was you I wanted to see."

"Well, that's a surprise." He admitted. "What can I help you with?"

"Matt, what I'm about to say, this conversation, it can't leave this room. It never happened, do you understand that?" She asked him. Matt just nodded. "I wanted to talk to you about Kendall."

"If it's to tell me about the cancer, you don't need to worry, Betty already told me." Matt assured her.

"Actually I wanted to ask what the hell you thought you were doing." Margaret stated. Matt looked more than a little stunned. "Hanging around, going to her place, moving in next door, do you honestly think any of that is helping her?"

"Margaret, I love her, I want to help..."

"I get that, but this isn't doing anything to help her. It's doing pretty much the opposite!" Margaret told him. "Kendall's talked more to me about what happened than maybe...well...anyone. Take my word on this."

"Margaret, I want to be there for her." Matt reiterated. "I know that this was a horrible thing to happen, and what she think it cost her, but I want her to know..."

"You don't see what you're doing do you?" Margaret asked him. "Matt, Kendall's having a hard enough time dealing with what SHE wants right now. She's got a lot more going on here than you know."

"Which is why I want to help..."

"But you being around her all the time, making all these moves, trying to get back with her, it's smothering her." Margaret said as she looked to him. "Matt, I know you well enough to know you don't mean any harm, but you're putting a lot of pressure on her and that's pretty much exactly the last things she needs right now."

She managed to get herself back onto her feet and hobbled over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not saying this because I don't think you're right for her. You helped Phillipe a lot when he was trying to become the Graphite Ranger. Believe me; I'm saying this for your own good as well as hers because I want to pay you back for all that." Margaret told him. "You need to keep your distance from her. Don't call around her place if she doesn't ask you to. Don't go to the university, don't call her. If she needs you, she'll call on you."

"What makes you think...?"

"Matt, there are flowers on the counter." She told him. Matt looked over to where a bouquet of flowers was sitting. He just coughed.

"Um...I thought the apartment could use a little colour." He said in a really unconvincing way. Margaret just glared at him in a way that put her in competition with Kendall's infamous death glare. "I...was thinking of dropping by the university and asking her to lunch."

"Matt, I don't know what the future is for you two, but take it from a friend. If you don't back off, then you're going to blow it for good, and that isn't going to be good for anyone involved." Margaret told him. "If you care about her half as much as I know you do, please, just give her some space."

"I hadn't thought about any of it like that." He admitted. Margaret headed to the door to let herself out. "Margaret...thanks. I promise I'll back off."

"For what it's worth, I'm really pulling for you both." Margaret stated. "Glad we had this talk."

With that, she headed out the door and went down the corridor, this time stopping and waiting on the elevator. She'd already pushed herself enough for one day.

Over at the university, Shelby and Erin were walking down the hallway of the palaeontology department between classes.

"So, Ivan took me to that movie 'Dunkirk' last night, and it was amazing!" Erin relayed her story as they neared their destination. "He was such a gentleman, the theatre was cold, so he let me borrow his coat..."

"So you'd recommend the movie?" Shelby asked. Erin just smiled and nudged her.

"I told you I went with Ivan right?" Erin giggled. "Let's just say we didn't see a whole lot of the movie if you catch my drift."

"I think I've got it." Shelby groaned. She was happy that Erin was happy, but she didn't need to hear the gory details or be involved in everything. She knocked on a door, at which someone called her to come in. They both went inside, finding Kendall working on some computers. There were a few other professors working there too, going over the results.

"Ms Morgan, what is all this?" Shelby asked, seeing all the professors working around her. "I thought you said you were working on your PhD?"

"Oh, I am, but I was getting help from one of your professors and some of his colleagues wanted to take a look and...well...here we are!" She told Shelby.

"A few?" Erin asked, looking at the number of people crowded into the lab. "It looks like half the department is in here!"

"A little bit more than half." Kendall sighed. "It's actually getting more than a little distracting, but I need some 3rd part verification for a few of my claims."

"Why would so many people be interested in a PhD thesis?" Shelby asked.

"Um...well...I...guess my work is just that fascinating." Kendall offered, trying to change the subject. She hadn't actually told any of the others that she'd received the artefacts from Koda's cave, much less that she'd been studying them and was planning to base her entire PhD around them. "So, is there something I can help you with?"

"We were just wondering if you'd like to go to lunch with us." Erin told her. "But it looks like you're kind of busy here..."

Just then, there was a bleeping sound. Kendall and Shelby looked to each other, realising it was the Dino Comm.

"Say, Shelby, would you like to have a look at some of my work here?" Kendall asked. "I've got a sedimentary..."

"Blah, blah, bone and rocks...OK, I think I know when to nope out." Erin said as she turned for the door. "Catch me up if you change your mind Shelbster."

As she left, Kendall and Shelby went to a corner of the room, trying to avoid all the other professors who were too engrossed in what they were seeing to think much of anything else going on. Kendall pulled out her Dino Comm and examined it.

"What is it? Is it one of the guys?" Shelby asked her.

"It's a distress signal. It seems to be coming from McAdam Forest." Kendall told her.

"But the guys are at the museum today, why would any of them be out there?" Shelby asked her. Kendall showed her the readout from her Dino Comm.

"I don't think it's any of them." Kendall told her. "This wavelength matches the communications from..."

"The Silver Ranger?" Shelby asked. Kendall just nodded.

"You go on ahead; I need to...um...secure some things around here." She said, looking around the other professors. "I'll contact the others."

"I'll meet them out there!" Shelby called back as she ran out of the lab. Kendall opened up a channel, aiming to contact the rest of the guys. She couldn't believe that this day had finally come. They were all worried that the Silver Ranger was in Arcanon's clutches, but if he was communicating with them, then it was possible he had managed to escape. By the end of the day, they could finally have all ten Energems in their grasp!


	7. Silver Traitor

In the museum gift shop, Sarah was doing some tidying up while dancing around to the music from her i-Pod.

"I don't know how you can listen to this." Betty sighed as she started stocking up shelves from a box on the floor, shaking her head in disbelief. "That N-Zed Boyz stuff Shelby listens to is at least irritatingly catchy, but this is...who is this again?"

"Levi Weston." Sarah answered. "Oh, I know, someone my age so into country and western is a little unusual, but I've always loved it..."

"Isn't all his stuff a couple of years old by now?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's on a sabbatical or something. He hasn't released any music in a while." Sarah told her. "It makes me wonder what he's working on."

"Last I heard no one had seen or heard from him, he disappeared." Betty stated.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's just in seclusion working on something amazing. Like Beyonce, or Jay-Z, or Tupac..."

"Didn't Tupac get shot?" Betty asked in response. "He isn't in seclusion, he's dead!"

"Have you heard how many 'unreleased' tracks that have been released since his 'death'?" Sarah said, making air quotes to emphasise her point. Betty just started laughing. "What?"

"Oh, some things never change." Betty chuckled. "I've been hearing conspiracy theories like that for years. Believe me, when I was a girl, it was the 'Elvis is really alive' thing."

"Excuse me." They heard someone say. A woman came to the counter, carrying a toy from the shelf. The kid with her didn't look too happy. The mother had opened the package, and was showing them the toy inside. "I just bought this, and this happened when I opened the package."

It was a kind of caveman action figure that according to the package was named 'Worg'. They could see that as she lifted it out, the body came out, but the arms remained in the packaging. Betty inspected the toy carefully.

"Oh, now this will never do now will it?" She said, looking over it. Sarah was already looking out another one, getting it off the shelf. She opened up the package, finding this one exactly the same. It was only on opening the third one that she found one that was intact. She handed it to the woman.

"I'm so sorry about that, here. Take this one." Sarah told her. The mother handed the toy to her son, before taking him out of the gift shop. Sarah was just going to put the toys in the trash, but Betty took them to have a look at them.

"Would you look at this thing?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty ugly alright." Sarah sighed. "Also, what kind of name is 'Worg'? I guess we'll need to ask Koda if that's a name from that time period."

"No, I mean look at this. Those toys broke just coming out of the plastic." Betty stated, showing her the break. "They shouldn't do that."

"Ladies, what exactly did I just see?" Flash asked them, coming into the gift shop. "Did I see you give out a free toy?"

"Actually, I think you'll find what you saw was Sarah replacing a faulty toy." Betty told him. "I'm sure consumer rights haven't changed that much in my time that if you're sold a defective product you're not entitled to a refund or exchange."

"Refund or...the toy broke!" He told her. "That's what toys do!"

"They break eventually, and usually only if they're mistreated, not just taking them out the package." Sarah commented. He just glared at her.

"Those things are worth fifteen dollars a pop!" Flash stated. "She broke hers and you just gave out a new one?"

"Fifteen dollars for THIS?" Betty said incredulously. "It's a piece of cheap junk!"

She tapped one of the action figures on the counter a couple of times, and almost on cue, its head came off. Flash just sighed.

"That is NO way to talk about the museum's new mascot." He told them. They looked to each other.

"Mascot?" They chorused.

"Oh, and in future, don't just replace every piece of merchandise someone breaks taking out the box. If the package is open, we're no longer responsible." Flash told Sarah. "Just to make sure the lesson's drilled in good and hard, those two are coming right out of your pay."

As he left, Sarah threw her hands up in the air.

"Those toys are..."

"Those toys are a cheap piece of shit." Betty agreed. "Look at that break, the plastic is faded, that means it's not a fresh break. They were like that in the box."

"What do you think he meant by 'mascot'?" Sarah asked her. Betty just sighed.

"I don't know, but if these action figures are anything to go by, I'd say it's going to be cheap and tacky." Betty responded. "I'll get the lunch."

"Thanks." Sarah grumbled. "After being docked $30 it'll be a while before I'm able to pay."

The team made their way out to McAdam Woods, a wildlife conservation area named for a prominent environmentalist in the city, eager to find the source of the distress signal. Morphed and ready for battle, they made their way slowly through the woods, heading towards the distress signal. Tyler signalled them to stop, pulling out his communicator.

"We're almost there Ms Morgan." He told her. "Any sign of company?"

"I don't see any alien bio signs." Kendall informed them, working from her tabled as she tried to stay out of the view of the other professors working in the university lab. "I've got James and Phillipe on standby just in case though."

"Good, if the Silver Ranger is here, I don't want to assume we're the only ones that know where he is." Tyler said as he looked to the others. "Riley, Ivan, Koda, you're up front with me. Shelby, you and Chase keep us covered from a little further back."

They all nodded in comprehension, before breaking from the relative safety of the cover of the tree-line, into a clearing that served as an observation area in the preserve. They could see a figure stumbling towards them a little way off. It looked like he was injured given how he moved, and they could see that he was armed, but there was no denying that coming towards them was the Silver Ranger.

"Alright, everyone stay alert." Tyler reminded them. He came forward, taking the small contingent with him, while Chase and Shelby looked around for any signs of any enemies that had somehow evaded Kendall's scans. The Silver Ranger stumbled towards them, dragging his sword, which looked a lot more like a double-edged broadsword than their single-edged sabres, and was silver instead of green, like he wanted to keep it at the ready but was having trouble bearing its weight.

"Rangers, I'm glad...you...got..." He dropped to one knee as he tried to get his breath. Their instincts were to go and help him, but something about this didn't feel at all right to Tyler.

"Silver Ranger, it's really you!" Tyler called out. "Where...where have you been?"

"I've been a captive of Lord Arcanon." He informed them. "I managed to escape. It cost me dearly, but I managed to overpower my guards. Please, help me."

Tyler started to approach, but something didn't seem right about this to Riley. As much as all of them wanted to see the Energems reunited, to have the full power of all ten Energems at their disposal, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was all too simple about him turning up.

"If you escaped, why isn't anyone pursuing you?" Riley asked him. "We haven't picked up any alien bio signs."

"Riley, he clearly needs our help." Tyler tried to reprimand him. However, the Silver Ranger held up a hand.

"A fair question, he is wise to be precautious." The Silver Ranger told them. "I was pursued here by a number of viviks, but they all now exist only as stains on my blade."

"Viviks?" Riley whispered to himself, thinking this detail was a little curious. He had already told them that he overpowered his guards, why would Arcanon think a prisoner capable of doing that would have any trouble fending off a few viviks?

"Come on, we help him." Koda said, starting to approach him. Riley just held him back.

"What about those broadcasts you sent before?" Riley asked him. "The ones where you asked for our Zord data?"

"Riley, we can discuss this later!" Shelby stated.

"Arcanon has means of torture at his disposal you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares." The Silver Ranger answered. "I held out as long as I could, but as his prisoner for years, there were limits to even my constitution. I admit that I cracked and allowed him to force me to make those recordings. For that, I am truly sorry."

"You aided our enemy?" Ivan asked him.

"Yes, and I will do anything I can to seek your forgiveness for my weakness." He responded, before reaching behind him, pulling out a bundle of Dino Chargers. He held them out before himself, presenting them to the Rangers. "When I overpowered my guards, I knew I couldn't leave these in Arcanon's possession. At great risk to my own life, I took all nine of the Dino Chargers that he forced me to create."

"He DID freely admit to his part in this." Ivan conceded. "He has also done what he can to make reparations."

"NOW can we help him?" Shelby asked, as Koda and Tyler started to approach him. As they were about to help him up though, Riley stepped forward.

"Wait, only nine?" He asked. "Not ten?"

"Uh...yes." The Silver Ranger said, sounding a little less certain of his position. "I...um...I never got around to making a Titano Charger."

It was when he said this though that he made his mistake. Tyler and Koda started backing off, as did the others.

"You never made a Titano Charger?" Riley asked, awaiting clarification. "Then what's this?"

As he pulled it out, The Silver Ranger stared at it.

"We found that at the scene of our last battle." Ivan told him. "A Titano Charger that you claim you never made!"

"Also, how Sarah said she saw you in a battle against monsters in your broadcast if you've been a prisoner for years?" Riley asked him. "If you were a prisoner, why would you be fighting Arcanon's monsters?"

The Silver Ranger realised his ruse had been discovered. Seeing no point in maintaining the illusion any longer, he stood up, letting out a huge, shrieking laugh that sounded eerily familiar.

"Very clever Rangers, you saw through my deception! Now, let's see if you're clever enough to handle my Titano Morph Blaster!" He screeched as he pulled out his blaster and opened fire, forcing the Rangers to scatter as he cackled evilly.

Back at the museum, Leanne came into the gift shop, finding Sarah still moping over having to pay for the broken toys. She put a tuna melt down on the counter for her.

"Betty mentioned what happened." Leanne told her. "He really made you pay for that?"

"He really did." Sarah grumbled. "I'm on minimum wage; $30 is almost a full day's pay!"

"Yeah, he's a real jerk, that's for sure." Leanne answered, looking at one of the toys. "So...this is seriously going to be a mascot for this place?"

"Apparently." Sarah said with a nod. "Though exactly what that means is beyond me."

"Oh, I am completely done trying to figure out what goes on in that head." Leanne responded. Just then, Flash came in.

"What the hell...do you two think I pay you to stand around chin-wagging all day?" He stated as he saw them.

"I was just delivering Sarah's lunch." Leanne told him.

"Well, when you've quite finished with that, maybe you might like to feed the hungry people who are actually PAYING for their lunch!" He said, picking her up and turning her around, pointing her in the direction of the door. He patted her on the rear, before turning back to Sarah. "Oh, and don't think I'm done with you and your little freebies, they stop right now."

"You mean my lunch?" Sarah asked. "I'm pretty sure it's in my contract that I get lunch provided..."

"Well, yes, but do you think we're made of money? I am trying to turn a profit here!" He told her. "From now on, I'll be compiling a list of what you can have for your lunch. If you want something more, you pay for it...starting...five minutes ago."

"You want me to PAY for that?" Sarah shrieked. "You already docked me $30! If you dock me any more I'll be officially PAYING for the privilege of working here!"

"Then maybe you should think a little more about your job." He told her. He felt someone grab his arm as Leanne spun him around. She stared straight into his eyes.

"She didn't do anything wrong and you know it." Leanne stated. "She didn't know about your new policy on lunch because you never told her."

"I never told her." He said in a distant manner. Sarah could see an intense look in Leanne's eyes, and noted the tone of Flash's voice. She started to smirk, thinking she was glad she knew a vampire.

"Docking her wages is unfair!" Leanne stated.

"Unfair..."

"So...you're going to overlook this, and the action figures now aren't you?" Leanne said with a smile. It took a while before Flash answered.

"Well, since you feel so strongly about it, I'll only charge her half, and you can pay the other half!" He said cheerfully as he patted her on the head, before leaving the gift shop. Sarah's shoulders just slumped and Leanne looked thoroughly disappointed.

"I really wish I paid more attention to mom when she tried to teach me how to glamour people." Leanne sighed.

"Never mind, that guy's so focused on money; I don't think a bulldozer would have gotten through his mind." Sarah answered. "I appreciate the attempt though. Thanks for the tuna melt."

"Well...enjoy it." Leanne answered. "I have a feeling it'll be the last."

"Ain't that the truth." Sarah grumbled as Leanne left to go back to the cafe.

Back in McAdam Forest, the Rangers were locked in deadly battle with the Silver Ranger. Although there were six of them, it seemed that the Silver Ranger was a skilled warrior. Chase and Riley were forced to take cover behind a rock.

"What the hell happened?" Chase asked. "I thought the Energems couldn't bond to anyone evil!"

"Is he even the real Silver Ranger?" Riley asked. "Maybe he's just a monster with a disguise or something?"

Tyler and Koda were both thrown through the air as the Silver Ranger hit the ground with a charged up punch that sent out a massive wave attack. Tyler landed right next to them.

"No...he's real alright." Tyler grunted as he tried to pull himself up. "Those are definitely Ranger powers."

"Maybe he's been brainwashed!" Shelby suggested, firing off some blasts. "If he was Arcanon's prisoner, maybe he somehow turned him!"

"There were many tales in my day of loyal subject that spent so long as prisoners they ended up siding with their captors!" Ivan stated, loading three Dino Chargers into his Ptera Sabre, charging it up. "If he's a foe, we need to defeat him. If he is a friend, then perhaps now we need to liberate him from his own mind by force!"

He rushed at the Silver Ranger, aiming to take him out, but the Silver Ranger managed to block his attack, being driven back several yards by the force of it. He dug in his heels, leaving long, deep trenches as he stood against the force of the blow, lightning arcing all around him. He knocked Ivan back a little, before cutting him down. He approached the prone Ivan, kicking away his sword.

"This time it looks like Silver is greater than Gold!" He cackled. "Silver Prism...AAAAGHHHHHHH!"

He dropped his sword and let out a hellish scream as he clutched his head. The Rangers started to regroup in the confusion.

"NO! NOT NOW!" The Silver Ranger screamed.

"What's happening?" Tyler asked. Just then, his suit disappeared in a flash of light, and before them was standing an alien, one that appeared much like a massive, blue, winged bird. It had a huge, red beak, and was covered in white robes that bore symbols in a language none of them recognised. Seeing the Rangers advancing on him, he held up his hands.

"No, please, I'm a friend, I swear it!" He told them.

"You have a funny way of showing it." Chase responded.

"Please, I need your help; I can only keep him at bay for a short time!" He told them. "My name is Zenowing."

"Well Zenowing, mind telling us why you're working for Arcanon?" Tyler yelled at him.

"Please, he's coming back, I can feel it!" Zenowing screamed. "Please, help me from...aaaaRGGHHHH!"

With a hellish scream, he changed form, this time being covered in black feathers, trimmed in a flame red. He was holding a wickedly barbed sword and cackled in the shrieking laugh that they had heard before.

"DOOMWING!" They all gasped, recognising him from when they had seen Arcanon arriving.

"Two beings inhabiting one body, it's just like Heckyl!" Shelby stated.

"Yeah, but with Heckyl, both halves are bat-shit crazy!" Tyler reminded her. Doomwing flew straight at him, snatching him into the air, and flying up high into the air with him, before dropping him on the ground. The others all rushed around him as he struggled back to his feet.

"It looks like he flew the coop." Chase stated. Shelby just slapped him upside the head in response.

"This is serious; he can use the Silver Ranger powers." Shelby reminded him. "That's not the kind of firepower we want him running around with!"

"Silver Energem no bond to someone evil." Koda reminded them. "Maybe Zenowing tell truth, maybe he friend."

"That still doesn't help us with his other side." Riley said. "But it does answer the question how Doomwing can use the Silver Ranger powers."

"All that means is we have to figure out how to get rid of Doomwing while keeping Zenowing." Tyler said as he got on his communicator. "Ms Morgan, the Silver Ranger was a trap. Doomwing can use the Silver Energem."

"DOOMWING?" Kendall yelled. "But...how?"

"I've no time to explain, meet us at the Dino Lab." Tyler told her. "We'll explain more when we get there."

As he was about to put his Dino Comm away though, he noticed that something about it looked odd. There was a dark dot on the side of it that he had never seen before. Doomwing had attached something to his Dino Comm when he grabbed him. Seeing the others already de-morphing and getting ready to leave, he decided it was best not to say anything just yet. Doomwing didn't know that Tyler was wise to his device yet, perhaps he could turn his play around on him.


	8. Trial and Separation

Heckyl was sitting in his cell, contemplating his next move. His battle with the Rangers had cost him, not only in losing Fortress, a weapon of unbelievable power that was moments away from destroying all the Rangers' zords in one fell swoop and leaving the Earth defenceless, but once that battle was over, he was so weakened that Arcanon was able to simply stroll in and pick up the pieces. Now, his ship and his army belonged to Arcanon, and he was once again back in the solitary confinement wing.

He was well aware of the fact Arcanon ruled through fear. Although, with the exceptions of his wild mood swings under the influence of Snide, he had treated the monsters on the ship well and they had a lot more freedom under him than they did under Arcanon, he wasn't confident that he could convince most of them to try and overthrow him. There might be one or two with the nerve to stand up to him, but certainly not enough to form an army from. If he wanted to rid himself of Arcanon and reclaim his position, he would have to do it himself.

In all the time he had seen Arcanon, he had never seen him go anywhere without his book. His book seemed to be the source of his power, and that it seemed was the way to bring him down, but separating him from the book would be a lot more difficult than it sounded on paper. He went everywhere with it, and he was rarely alone. Singe, for all his shortcomings, was incredibly powerful in his own right, and rarely left Arcanon's side. He was certain that like himself, Arcanon had not earned the reputation he had by being reckless. If he wanted to get the book from him, he would have to be clever. Of course, it didn't matter how clever he was until he figured out a way to get out of his cell.

He was stirred from his thoughts as he heard Poisandra and Curio's voices, they seemed to be singing some kind of song, and as they came into view, he could see that they were following Doomwing, who was just returning from his latest mission on Arcanon's behalf.

"Turned tail, what a fail!" Curio sang.

"You took a lickin' just like a great big chicken!" Poisandra chimed in as they both started laughing. "Who knew that even with an Energem you'd be unable to destroy the Rangers? Why, my Sledgeums only had one Energem for a day and he..."

"And where is he NOW?!" Doomwing roared, turning on them and slamming a fist into the wall. They both jumped back a few inches. "I'll tell you where he is? Dust in the wind! Pushing up daisies! Fertiliser! Taking a nap in a soil blanket!"

Poisandra started to whimper hearing this. It was true that Sledge had vanished following his final battle with the Rangers, and no one had seen him since. They hadn't even found enough of him for Wrench to put through the re-animation machine to try and bring back. Heckyl could see Doomwing zeroing in on Poisandra, taking out his frustrations on her.

"I've already got my next move against the Rangers planned. Your Sledgeums...he didn't even leave enough to bury!" Doomwing taunted her. He turned away, finding Wrench running some routine maintenance in the hall and grabbed him roughly. "WRENCH! Come with me! Make yourself useful for once!"

As he left, Poisandra slumped down next to the door to Heckyl's cell and started to sob. Heckyl came closer to the bars.

"You, yes you..."

"I miss my Sledgeums!" She wailed as she wept into her hands. Heckyl moved a little closer to her.

"He should never have said those awful things to you...someone should really teach him a lesson." Heckyl told her.

"He...he...he said..."

"I could help you know." Heckyl suggested. "And I don't mean just getting rid of Doomwing."

"What are you talking about?" Poisandra asked him. Heckyl looked straight into her tear-filled eyes.

"You let me out of here, and I'll tell you something that'll knock your socks off." He told her. She just sighed.

"What could you tell me that would change anything?" She asked him. "Nothing you can say can bring my Sledgeums back."

"What if he didn't NEED to be brought back?" Heckyl asked her. She just looked at him curiously.

"What are you saying?" She asked him. "Are you...is he...?"

"I saw him on the day of the crash, as clear as I can see you right now." He told her. "And in exchange for my freedom, I can tell you where he went."

Over at the Dino Lab, the Rangers arrived to find Kendall and Keeper waiting for them. After their battle with Doomwing, they had a lot to discuss. While they had heard that Rangers fighting other Rangers had happened in the past, and had even experienced it themselves when Wrench brain-washed the Corsairs into fighting them, they had always presumed they would never face a Dino Ranger in battle.

The Energems chose who they bonded to. It wasn't always clear on an individual level what each Energem was looking for in its bearer, but they only chose those that they deemed worthy, rejecting, often violently, anyone that was deemed undeserving of their power. Courage, strength, compassion were all traits that the Energems seemed to value, but above all was goodness. The Energems, they had always been assured, could never bond to anyone that was evil. Unfortunately, it seemed that Arcanon had found a loophole in that rule.

"So, THAT was fun!" Chase said sarcastically as his Energem flew from his hand to the crystal beds. The rest of the team weren't far behind him. Tyler was heading up the rear as they got to Kendall and Keeper, hanging around near an aquarium. "So now the bad guys have a Ranger on their side!"

"It's bad, but we couldn't have predicted Arcanon finding a loophole to the 'no evil recipients of Energems' rule." Riley stated. "We all heard what Zenowing said, he doesn't have a choice in what Doomwing does!"

"Zenowing?" Keeper gasped, hearing this name. They all stared at him.

"You know him?" Ivan asked. Keeper just nodded sadly.

"Millions of years ago, Zenowing was my apprentice." He told them, thinking about the creature he had known. "His was one of the first developed species my kind found on our journey through the universe. Zenowing was a paladin of his people, and one of the wisest and bravest creatures I had ever found outside my own people at that time."

"You said before you suspected who the Silver Ranger might be." Ivan recalled. "Was it this Zenowing?"

"I never wanted to allow myself to get my hopes up, I was certain he would have perished millions of years ago." Keeper told them honestly. "Zenowing served me faithfully in my efforts to protect the Energems. I trusted him with my life many times. I have no difficulty at all believing that one of the Energems would choose him as a worthy recipient of its power."

"Tyler, WHAT are you doing?" Kendall asked as she saw him putting his Dino Comm into the aquarium and closing over the top. He pressed a finger to his lips to indicate to them to be quiet while he ensured the lid was closed over properly and joined them. He came over.

"Doomwing put a listening device on my Dino Comm when he grabbed me." Tyler told them. Ivan looked over to the aquarium.

"That sneaky little...such devious tactics are beyond contemptible! We should destroy it now while..."

"No, leave it for now." Tyler told him. "Why let him know his plan's failed? I say for now we leave it in there until we come up with a plan we WANT him to hear."

"So we deceive the deceiver?" Ivan said with a smile. "I like the way you think Tyler!"

"So in the meantime we just need to figure out what we do about Zenowing." Riley commented.

"He good guy, we must help if we can." Koda added. Tyler just nodded.

"We know who he is, and I'm willing to trust Keeper's word that he can be trusted." Tyler stated. "There's just a small problem named Doomwing."

"The Energem must have bonded to Zenowing before Doomwing was created." Keeper surmised, thinking back to the apprentice he knew so long ago. "Many billions across several planets owe their lives to Zenowing that will never even know of his existence. If the Energem bonded to him before Doomwing was created..."

"Then when he was created, he was able to use the fact that he has control of Zenowing's body to access the Silver Energem's power." Riley concluded. "That is a LOT of firepower to let one of our enemies run around with."

"So what do we do about it?" Chase asked. "We can't just let the Silver Energem go unchecked."

"You said it's like Heckyl and Snide right?" Kendall asked them. Shelby just nodded.

"EXACTLY like Heckyl and Snide." Shelby answered. "Except...you know...both halves aren't evil...and complete psychos."

"I know that look." Tyler said, seeing the look on Kendall's face. "You have an idea don't you?"

"I have a concept." She said as she looked to the team. "Well, it's more like the beginning of the concept of an idea...closer to a theory I've..."

"It's better than anything we have." Shelby interrupted her flatly. "What is it Ms Morgan?" Kendall breathed a deep sigh.

"Alright, I analysed a lot of footage of the battles we've had against Heckyl and Snide, particularly the ones where they both showed up." Kendall told them, pulling up images of both of them. "As you all know, the basis of matter, the basis of everything is atoms and molecules. Now, all molecules vibrate which is what gives us matter."

"Yeah...we um...all knew that." Chase said, looking confused.

"What molecule?" Koda asked.

"They're kind of like the building blocks that make up everything." Shelby said, giving him the cliff-notes version. "What does this have to do with your plan?"

"Well, all molecules vibrate, which is what gives us matter. Now, the molecules of everything vibrate slightly differently." She told them. "Heckyl and Snide are no different."

"So...they're different." Chase stated. "One's a psycho that wants to vaporise everything, one's a psycho that wants to slice and dice everything."

"If things are different, in theory at least, they can be filtered." Kendall continued her explanation. "I was thinking about what to do if Heckyl and Snide came back in a battle, and I thought, maybe it might be possible to separate them."

"If we did that, we'd be able to concentrate on each particular psycho instead of worrying if the other is going to take over." Riley said excitedly. "Ms Morgan that's brilliant!"

"Well, it WOULD be...except I've got no idea if it will work." Kendall told them. "I've got the device started, but I've not been able to test it. I don't know what the result will be."

"How could the results be bad?" Chase asked.

"Well, best case scenario, we manage to separate Zenowing and Doomwing and we get to keep Doomwing." Kendall stated. "Worst case scenario, we separate them..."

She picked up a piece of paper and shredded it to make her point.

"...and we have to mop up what's left of them both." She concluded. "Presuming it even works at all."

"That's...a pretty big gamble." Tyler conceded.

"I told you it wasn't much of a plan." Kendall said dejectedly. "I'll understand if..."

"Build the device." Ivan declared. The team all looked to him. "If we're going to cast a vote, I say Ms Morgan should build the device and we try it."

"Ivan, that's..."

"It's a gamble, but it's better than the alternative plan." Ivan told them.

"What alternative plan?" Shelby asked. Ivan just held up his Ptera Sabre.

"We cannot allow Dooming and Arcanon to keep the Silver Energem, regardless of the cost." Ivan declared. The Rangers all stared at him completely horrified by his suggestion.

"Ivan, you can't..."

"We all know the risks we take, and the Energems are far too dangerous to be in evil hands." Ivan stated. "I would expect, nay, I would DEMAND that you do no less if it were me, and if you look inside yourselves, in your hearts, I know that each and every one of you would prefer to meet your end than allow your Energem to fall into evil hands."

The room fell silent for a moment. None of them wanted to contemplate this eventuality, but it wasn't as though they could get around the fact that Ivan had a point. There really weren't many options.

"Do it Ms Morgan, build your device." Tyler decided. "He's right, we don't have any choice."

"What if it doesn't work?" Chase asked.

"It has to." Tyler replied. "If it doesn't...we lose Zenowing anyway."

Back on Arcanon's ship, Doomwing was in Wrench's lab, pacing impatiently as Wrench tuned into the listening device's frequency. It wasn't difficult for him to find it, but so far they couldn't find anything of value.

"I can hear running water." Wrench told him. "That means the Red Ranger's either under a waterfall, near a river...or in the bathroom?"

Doomwing just glared at him for offering this suggestion.

"The water's been running for fifteen minutes solid!" Doomwing snapped impatiently. "He's a human, not a racehorse!"

"I'm sorry, but all I can tell you is what I can hear!" Wrench whined. "Maybe if you'd let me in on your plan I could have given you something a little more high-tech that this piece of junk! When was this thing made anyway?"

"You're blaming ME for this?" Doomwing shrieked. "What exactly have you done to defeat the Rangers lately?"

They both snapped around, Doomwing drawing his sword as they heard an explosion.

"What was that?" Doomwing screeched.

"It came from solitary!" Wrench answered.

"HECKYL!" Doomwing yelled as he ran out the lab, arriving by the high-security cell, finding Doomwing and Singe already there. The door was hanging off its hinges and the dust was still settling. The smoke was only just starting to dissipate.

"Heckyl's gone, how could this have happened?" Arcanon demanded, looking to Fury and Wrench. "I thought Sledge built this place to withstand the powers of the prisoners!"

"He did, Heckyl can't have done that on his own!" Wrench answered. "He must have smuggled in an explosive somehow."

"Either that or someone smuggled it in for him!" Fury growled, looking around the other monsters who were quickly assembling to see what was happening. This thought hadn't been lost on Arcanon either. It seemed unlikely that Heckyl could have gotten out on his own, which meant that at least one of the monsters in his army had sided with Heckyl over him.

"Search the ship, he can't have gone far!" Arcanon ordered them. "The one who finds Heckyl and turns him in to me will be released. Anyone found helping him will suffer the same fate as him!"

With that, the monsters all scattered to search for Heckyl. Arcanon stopped Singe as he was about to go.

"You stay here. Let the pawns sacrifice themselves." Arcanon told him, caressing his book. "We still have the real power right here."

He turned to Doomwing, looking straight at him.

"As for you, you concentrate on the Rangers." He instructed him. "The power of an Energem is a terrible thing to waste. I'd hate to have to find someone else to give it to."

With that, Arcanon and Singe headed back to his Command Room, while Doomwing headed back to the lab to see if the listening device picked up anything of use.

He got back into the lab, to find sounds other than running water coming over the listening device. Fortunately, the computers had been recording the transmission. He wound back the recording to begin replaying it.

"Shelby, we need to find Doomwing, I'm going to go look for clues in McAdam Forest!" Tyler's voice came across the communicator.

"That's really risky without the team Tyler; maybe I should come with you!" Shelby answered in a loud voice.

"No, I will be fine going on my own!" Tyler concluded. "McAdam Forest isn't far; I won't be long, just stay here. I'll be right back!"

Doomwing shut off the recording, noting that the transmission only came through a short time ago. He picked up his sword.

"Don't be so sure Red Ranger!" Doomwing cackled as he left the ship.

Meanwhile, in McAdam Forest, Tyler and Shelby were standing with Kendall, reading off a script she had prepared for their message. Chase was standing behind Kendall, with his face in his hands.

"Don't ever become actors." He commented. "That was one of the worst deliveries I've ever heard committed to any recorded medium!"

"Hey, it wasn't THAT bad!" Tyler protested.

"Yeah, it was...the lines!" Shelby protested. "If we had improvised instead of trying to read off a card..."

"Don't blame the script!" Kendall told them as Riley, Koda and Ivan came back. "Have you finished setting up the devices?"

"We set them up around the clearing just as you asked." Ivan confirmed. "The trap is set!"

"Great, then all we need is Doomwing." Tyler answered. "All of you, get out of sight. He's expecting to find me here alone."

"Alright, but we're not far." Ivan reminded him. "Call on us if we're needed."

"Remember, you need to get Doomwing exactly in the centre of the clearing." Kendall reminded him. "After that, get clear and I'll do the rest."

"Alright." Tyler said as the others went to hide, standing in the middle of the clearing where Doomwing would be able to see him. "For Zenowing's sake, I hope this works."


	9. Time To Split

At the museum, Sarah's shift had ended, and she was just getting ready to leave the museum. It had been a trying day, and she was eager to get home, to just get away from Flash and his random acts of docking pay before she ended up paying any more for the privilege of working in his museum. It was only her 'real' work that kept her going.

Sarah had never wanted to work at the museum at all, but in her time in Amber Beach, she had seen the Rangers and the battles they faced and had wanted to help in any way she could. A few months previously, her mom had been injured in one of those battles, and it was only the intervention of the Rangers in the attack that meant her mom could get the help she needed. Like the rest of the city, she hadn't known who the Rangers were, and so there was little she could do to help. However, a short time back, fortune had taken a turn when Sarah found herself drawn into one of the Rangers' adventures. Having Beauticruel switch bodies with her had ended up causing the Rangers to give her just enough of a glimpse into their world for her to figure out who they were. She had jumped at the chance to do anything to help them and repay them for what they did for the city.

She clocked out at the machine by the back door, and was about to head for the hidden slide into the Dino Lab to continue her maintenance work on the Rangers' tech, when she saw Flash at the back, watching as some men were unloading a crate from a flat bed truck. He was smiling brightly as they lowered it towards the ground.

"Careful, be careful with that thing, its worth more to this place than you are!" He cautioned them as they set the crate upright. "Gently, gently...that's it! Alright, now, if you can just take it into..."

"Sorry buddy, we only deliver door to door." The delivery driver told him, handing him a tablet to take a signature. "If you want it taken any further, you have to pay."

Sarah stifled a chuckle hearing this. It was just like Flash to pay the cheapest contractor he could find, only to be surprised when he got exactly what he paid for. Flash signed for the delivery grumpily.

"Don't think there's going to be a tip." He told them as they got in and drove away. "Still, how can I be too upset? This thing is going to be a real money spinner!"

He saw Sarah hanging around and furrowed his brows.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing hanging around?" He asked her.

"Um...my shift finished." She told him, pointing to the road. She didn't want to risk him finding another reason to dock her pitiful wages and so figured it was best just to leave and come back when he was gone. "I was just going home..."

"Here, come here and help me with this!" He told her. Sarah just looked at the crate, and then back to him.

"You want me to move that thing?" She asked him. "I'm only like 90 pounds, it'd squash me like a ripe tomato!"

"Well I WOULD ask the kiwi and that big dummy with the birds-nest hair to do it but they're nowhere to be found." He told her.

"Koda's not a dummy." Sarah put down flatly.

"Whatever, are you going to get that trolley or not?" He asked her. Sarah rolled her eyes and fetched the trolley, bringing it to Flash. "Now, help me load it onto this thing."

Sarah reluctantly helped him rock the crate up on edge just enough to slide the trolley underneath. As they set it down, she saw a notice on the front.

"McArthur Animatronics?" She asked. "Isn't this the company that makes those moving dummies at your old theme parks?"

"It is indeed young lady!" He said, beaming with pride. He gestured to the emblem on the front. "This is going to be the museum's latest attraction...WORG!"

"Worg? Like those shi...um...those action figures?" She asked him. He just nodded.

"Believe me, this will be amazing!" Kids are going to love it!" He told her. "Now, if you could just help me get it to..."

He looked around and Sarah had gone. She had taken the opportunity while he was busy telling her how amazing his new idea was to cut out. He couldn't see any sign of where she had gone.

"What is she, a ninja or something?" He grumbled, before tipping the crate back and wheeling it into the museum. "You my beauty are going to be a real cash cow!"

Over in McAdam forest, Tyler was waiting in the clearing, randomly throwing around rocks and turning over debris to make it look like he was looking for something. They had sent their message to tempt out Doomwing. As time went by, they were starting to wonder if he had gotten the message, or worse...if he had, but was preparing a larger party than they were expecting. Eventually, he saw a long, winged shadow and smiled. He turned around, finding Doomwing coming towards him. Fortunately, he was alone.

"One little Ranger all alone!" He said as he approached, holding his sword out in front of him. "So nice of you to bring me an Energem."

"I'll be leaving here with two." Tyler told him. He saw Doomwing load the Silver Energem into a housing in his sword. He made a mental note of where it was as the housing closed over.

"You won't be leaving here at all!" Doomwing shrieked as he rushed forward. Tyler did likewise, rushing forward to meet him. "Unleash the power!"

The team watched from their vantage point as they both morphed, rushing straight for each other. Doomwing scored the first hit, striking Tyler in the chest and sending him flying high into the air.

"Tyler!" Shelby yelped as she prepared to rush in to help, only to be held back by the others.

"Not yet Shelby, we need Tyler to wear Doomwing down first." Ivan reminded her as he held her.

"But he's..."

"I know it's difficult, but we need to wear him down first." Riley reiterated. "Zenowing took control after we'd weakened him in battle."

"If this is going to work, we need to wait until Zenowing's starting to come back." Kendall told her. "That's when we're most likely to separate them and not kill both of them."

Shelby didn't want to leave Tyler to fight alone, every instinct in her wanted to run out to help him, but she knew that he had signed up for this. He knew that he was taking a risk fighting Doomwing alone, but if they were going to have any chance of getting Zenowing free, then they needed him to think that he had one of them on their own. If he called for reinforcements, there was no way they could guarantee they could focus on Doomwing enough to force him to transform. She watched on as the two fought, all the time hoping that in the process of trying to save one Ranger, they didn't end up sacrificing another.

Back at the museum, Leanne was making her way into the storage area in search of some more take-away cups for the restaurant when she heard sounds of a struggle. Worrying that someone had gotten into the museum, she made her way to see what it was, to see if one of her friends needed help. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw it was just Flash, his 'foe', seemed to be a packing crate that he was having difficulty opening.

"Stupid BLOODY thing!" Flash screamed as he went red-faced, sweat dripping down his face from the exertion as he pulled and pulled at a crowbar, trying to pry open the crate. "Why is that Kodak never around when he can actually be useful for something?"

"Koda." Leanne corrected him before she could stop herself. Flash turned, noticing her.

"I don't care if his names Lord bloody Lucan!" He stated. "He's a labourer, and yet I never see him do any labour!"

"Actually he's an expert on early man." She again corrected him. While this was a little bit of a stretch, since Koda didn't have any formal education, he could easily be described as such. He could tell them more about early Homo Sapiens than anyone else, having been around at the time.

"This here is our latest and greatest attraction. It'll bring in more customers than my new uniform policy!" He stated with a smile. "If I can ever get the blasted thing open!"

Leanne watched him go back to trying to pry it open, watching him struggle with it a little longer. Eventually he kicked the crate and started hobbling around after stubbing his toe on it. Leanne couldn't watch any longer. As Flash turned away to find somewhere to sit, she grabbed the crowbar and with one pull, ripped the side straight off it. Flash heard the crash as the side came down and straw spilled onto the floor.

"I...guess I loosened it off." Flash stated. Leanne just threw him the crowbar.

"Yeah, that must be it." She answered, turning to look at the contents. "Um...what is it anyway? A mannequin? We have dozens of those things already."

"Oh, this is not just a mannequin; this is the latest cutting edge animatronics!" He told her with pride. "I'd like you to meet Worg! The caveman!"

"Oh...OK." Leanne said, looking at it. It was simply one of the ugliest things she'd ever seen, and given her uncle Phineas' side of the family that was saying something! It was a positively creepy looking thing with a vacant stare and wild hair that looked like it wire wool. "Allison sent me to get cups, I should be..."

"Now, how about you use your imagination! This thing isn't just a mannequin; imagine this thing hunting, and making tools and greeting guests!" He said excitedly. He reached inside, getting a headset out and putting it on. "Here, let me show you. Worg, come!"

Worg just remained in the crate, completely unmoving. He stared at it a little disappointed.

"Worg, come!" He snapped again. Worg didn't so much as move. Leanne just shook her head.

"I should really be going." She told him. "Allison really needs those cups."

As she left, she shook her head in disbelief.

"Wow, and he's whining about lunches?" She grumbled. "How much did he piss away on this?"

Back at McAdam Forest, Tyler was learning first hand just how powerful the Silver Ranger could be. He could recall Ms Morgan saying something about how due to the size difference, the Tyrannosaurus wouldn't hunt the Titanosaurus, as much out of fear of getting trampled as the fact it would simply be too much to eat. It wasn't a comforting thought right now.

He could feel the power of his suit being tested with every blow. It was probably the only thing stopping him becoming the consistency of humus as the Silver Ranger hammered him with energy punches, but he knew he had to keep him coming. It was rope-a-dope tactics. Zenowing had been able to exert control when Doomwing had been drained in battle before. It was a risky tactic, forcing him to exert all his power by drawing out his attacks. It was kind of like leading a bear into a trap by punching it in the nose. It could work...but you just had to hope it didn't tear you to pieces before you got it into position!

He blocked a few more blows with his Tyranno Smasher, but he missed a rear-hand uppercut that caught him straight under the chin, throwing him high into the air. He felt his Dino Steel Armour leave him as he was batted away on the way down, rolling along the ground. Tyler knew that pretty soon his suit was going to give up the ghost; he could only hope that Doomwing was in the same situation.

"You...you're almost...done...Red Ranger!" Doomwing said, making his way towards Tyler. Tyler caught the broken pattern of his speech.

"I can do this all day." Tyler taunted him, bringing out his Dino Sabre. It was all bravado; he knew that once more good hit could leave him completely defenceless. He just hoped that Doomwing's resolve would give before his did. "You want this Energem? I'm not going anywhere!"

Doomwing summoned up his own sword, and began tracing a shape in the air. Tyler watched, not knowing what was coming, but knowing that it couldn't be good.

"Silver Prism SLASH!" Doomwing called out as he fired an energy prism his way. Tyler stood, holding the power as long as he could, forcing Doomwing to push harder, exerting more energy into it.

"He's going to get killed!" Shelby shrieked.

"Shelby look!" Kendall called out, pointing to Doomwing. His Ranger suit was starting to glow brightly, and dissipate as he drove all the power he had into the attack. "He's doing it! Doomwing's weakening!"

Tyler strained with all he had, holding the attack as long as he could, but eventually he couldn't hold it any longer. He landed flat on his back, his suit disappearing in a bright flash. Doomwing started to come towards him, his sword at the ready.

"You did well Red Ranger. You're more powerful than I would have thought!" Doomwing complimented him. "I'd almost think it was worth bringing you to Lord Arcanon, seeing if his Dark Energem can't make you one of ours."

"The Dark Energem." Tyler spluttered. "That's how you did it. That's how you were created."

"It did pretty good work with Snide too; shame Heckyl's such a pain in the ass." Doomwing told him. "Still, it doesn't matter much now. I would ask if you have any last words, but...I really don't care!"

He was about to bring down his sword, when all of a sudden, his hand started to shake. Tyler could see the feathers on his hand and arm starting to turn blue and Doomwing starting to struggle against his own body.

"NO! NOT NOW!" He screamed, grabbing his sword. Tyler smiled.

"Actually, now would be perfect!" Tyler said, kicking hard against the ground and rolling away as far as possible. "MS MORGAN, HIT IT!"

Kendall pressed the button on her controller as Doomwing struggled for control of his own body. Brightly coloured energy hit him from all sides and he screamed loudly in agony.

"Is it meant to do that?" Chase asked as he heard the screams echoing through the woods. Kendall looked horrified by what was happening. She made weapons regularly, and she was under no false impressions that her weapons ultimately were made to kill, but there was a huge difference between that and torture. She was about to hit the button again to stop it as the agonised screams ran right through her, but Riley stopped her.

"Ms Morgan look!" He said, pointing to Doomwing. They could see that now, there were two heads, one Doomwing and one Zenowing, and they seemed to be pulling in opposite directions. Before long, there were torsos and arms. "It's working!"

Kendall continued to watch on, traumatised by the display, but knowing that it was too late to do anything else now. With a scream that chilled everyone to the bone, there was an explosion and two forms were thrown in opposite directions. Kendall and the other Rangers broke cover and ran into the clearing, heading for the nearest form, finding Zenowing lying unmoving on the ground.

"Is he...?"

"He's breathing...but not by a hell of a lot." Kendall conceded. "We'll need to get him back to the lab."

"First, we need to get that Energem back." Ivan stated. "Doomwing still has it."

"It's in his sword." Tyler told them as he joined them.

Doomwing shakily got back to his feet. He could see the Rangers assembled before him and knew that now the odds were heavily stacked against him.

"It's over Doomwing." Shelby called out. "Give us the Energem and we'll let you live."

"Who do you really think I'm more scared of, you or Arcanon?" Doomwing asked in response. "I think I'll take my chances!"

With that, he struck the ground with his sword. A huge explosion ripped through the clearing. By the time the smoke cleared, Doomwing was already running and too far away to pursue. Chase opened fire with his Dino Blaster, but only managed to graze his arm as he disappeared from view.

"Damn it, he's still got the Energem!" Chase stated.

"Leave it for now; we can get him another time." Tyler told him. "Let's get Zenowing back to the lab."

"I'll call ahead; make sure Sarah has the medical supplies set up." Shelby said as the guys picked up Zenowing's unconscious form, carrying him in the direction of the truck. As his arm hung down limply, blood trickled slowly down and dripped from his hand onto the ground.


	10. Fallen Warriors

In Ocean Bluff, Alessandra was preparing for a show, preparing to face off against Jack. Jack was a good friend, and an incredible wrestler, and so she was perfectly confident he would help her to put on a great match for the fans in the arena.

Her head snapped around as she heard a loud reaction, followed by a massive chant of "You Fucked Up!" echoing around the arena, causing the paper-thin walls to shake. Ocean Bluff was a crowd with very high expectations. The fan base was known to be highly critical and extremely demanding of performers. They were positively brutal and certainly not shy about expressing their opinion when performers made mistakes or matches and performers did not live up to expectations. The term smart marks or "smarks", referring to fans who were extremely knowledgeable about what went on in matches and the business was pretty accurate of the OB crowd. It made Alessandra wonder if maybe it would have been better to keep the championship match for a more forgiving crowd.

Her knee was heavily taped up, and she was icing it regularly to keep down the swelling. She was waiting until the last minute to take her painkillers, all in the hopes that it would help her last longer before she needed to rely on Jack to carry the match. She looked up as Jack came into the room.

"How's the leg?" Jack asked her. Alessandra gestured for him to sit down. It was unusual to see Jack in her dressing room so close to show time.

"I manage." Alessandra told him. "Why you here?"

"Is it unusual to see a friend before a big match?" He asked her. Alessandra just looked to him.

"It unusual to see you so close to match." She answered. They had already gone through the basic run-down of the match a few times before. Jack just chuckled.

"I guess that's true." He agreed. "It's not like I'm much into planning. This old brain doesn't really do too well in the old memory department these days."

Jack was very old-school in how he planned matches. While he would go over a basic framework with the people he worked with, the watch word was 'basic', sometimes little more than the finish and who won. He'd call most of the match in the ring. It was as much down to his memory, which he admitted was starting to wane, than anything else, but it was just how he had always done his matches for most of his career. Like many older workers, he felt like it made the matches seem more spontaneous and legitimate than choreographed.

"You not that old." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jack smiled as he offered her his hip flask, which she politely declined. He took a swig from it and put the cap back on.

"Is there anything you want to go over again?" He asked her. Alessandra just shook her head.

"I trust you." She told him. "Just wish Koda here."

"Yeah, I'm missing the big lug too." Jack admitted. "I'm glad he'll be back soon enough."

As he got up, he looked to her one last time.

"You'll do great kid." He assured her. "You're one of the best I've ever seen."

Alessandra just smiled. Coming from Jack, a guy who had wrestled against some of the biggest names in the business across his over 30 year career, that was one hell of a statement to make. Jack pulled out some tablets and popped them in his mouth.

"You alright?" Alessandra asked him. He just shrugged.

"Bit of a headache." He replied, washing them down with another slug from his hip flask. "You have your pre-match rituals, I have mine."

With that, he left her to get ready. When he got out into the hall, there were a couple of guys standing around chatting, waiting on their match.

"Did you see the way that chick was limping around earlier?" One of them asked, looking a little irritated. "Thank God she's dropping the belt soon, the sooner we get shot of her the better."

"Dude, she's hurt, it could happen to any of us." Another answered.

"Yeah, but when you're half the size of everyone you work with it's just playing with fire." He laughed. He was completely unaware of Jack coming up behind him as he continued to deride Alessandra. "Believe me, when I told people I was working here, all they'd say is 'you mean that two-bit fed with the tiny chick as it's champion'? I just wish I got a crack at..."

He tailed off as he noticed his friends getting quiet. He turned around to see Jack standing behind him. Jack placed a hand in his chest, shoving him roughly against a wall, straight through his friends. His face gave away that he was far from impressed.

"Listen, I was just..."

"I heard most of it." Jack told him. "I was just wondering if you'd like to finish your thoughts."

"Um...I was just going to..."

"Jack stopped the guy by slapping him hard across the face.

"No, you'll stay here and finish what you were saying." Jack stated. "Go ahead, finish what you were saying!"

"I was just saying..."

He didn't get to go particularly far in his thoughts. Jack grabbed him into a choke hold, beginning to choke him out. The other three closed in, trying to pull Jack away, but in a scene that looked more like something from a monster movie than anything else, he started laying into all four of them, pounding all four like drums and throwing them around. It was when one of them screamed as Jack snapped his arm like a twig that a number of other wrestlers and Carl flooded into the hall, finding Jack choking out the one who had insulted Alessandra.

"Jesus Christ!" Someone said, seeing the three wrecked bodies lying on the floor, while others were about to close in. Carl held up his hands, blocking their path.

"Don't!" He warned them. "Trust me, if you don't want to end up the same way, keep your distance."

He started approaching Jack slowly. The older man had blood leaking down his face from a split in his brow and his nose, and his face was contorted in a combination of strain from the choke hold and anger. Carl moved slowly, knowing his friend's temper all too well. Jack could easily snap the younger man's neck if he wanted to.

"Jack...Jack, put the kid down." Carl told him. Jack didn't seem to be listening. Carl took a deep breath. "Jack, if you don't let go you're going to kill him! Even I can't do anything about that. Is this piece of shit worth it?"

Jack just threw the kid to the ground, where he started coughing furiously, trying to catch his breath. Carl gestured the others back as they were about to move in. Jack had a bad habit of going emotionally from 0-60, and any sudden moves could land more of the others in a bad way. He looked Jack.

"Jack, you're bleeding." He told him. "Go and clean your face."

Jack just nodded and headed off to find a bathroom. People parted and gave him a wide berth as he did. Carl just looked at the scene before him.

"He broke my arm!" One of them whined as he rolled on the floor. Carl just sighed.

"You're god damn right he did. Consider yourself lucky it wasn't worse." Carl said, checking on the others. "Shit, they're in the penultimate match. Are you three ready to go?"

The three men just looked at Carl, astounded.

"Are you kidding me?" The one he had been choking asked. "He nearly killed me!"

"I'm sure whatever you did you deserved it, now get up you tart!" Carl said, grabbing the man and pulling him up. "All of you get cleaned up and get yourself ready. If your arses aren't in that ring next, don't expect any more calls from me!"

They all grumbled as they left, leaving Carl to check on the remaining guy. His arm wasn't just broken; it was painfully obvious it was! It flopped around like nothing was supporting it.

"God damn it Jack, you've just screwed the pooch on this one. You, get him to a hospital." Carl stated. He looked around the guys assembled, various runners and security. He pointed to one. "You, you've done some work in this area haven't you?"

"One battle royal..."

"Well, you've just been given an opportunity kid, how quick can you get into some gear?" Carl asked him. The guy just gulped.

"I...have some shorts in my bag..."

"That'll have to do." He answered. "What's your name kid?"

"Casey." The kid said.

"Well Casey, you have precisely five minutes to get up to speed with the others." Carl told him. Casey immediately ran off to get changed and talk to the others. Carl just leant against a wall.

"God damn it Jack." He muttered.

Over at the Dino Lab, Kendall was checking over Zenowing, who had yet to regain consciousness. Keeper was standing back silently, staring at his old apprentice, still unable to believe he had survived all this time. Sarah approached, handing Kendall some bandages.

"How is he?" She asked.

"He's breathing, which I assume is a good sign." Kendall said as honestly as she could. She took the bandages and started winding them around a wound in Zenowing's arm. "I don't have any idea how his physiology works, I'm flying blind for the most part."

"I am amazed he is still alive. We are fortunate indeed that the Silver Energem chose a warrior such as Zenowing." Keeper told them.

"Do you think he's going to pull through?" Riley asked. Keeper just nodded.

"I have seen him survive against odds that even I would have deemed impossible." Keeper assured them.

"All we have to do now is get the Silver Energem back." Tyler answered. "Do you think Doomwing can still use it?"

"We're sure to find out soon enough." Ivan added. He pulled out his cell phone as it started ringing and smiled. "Lady Erin! It is a delight. Could you hold on?"

He looked to the others.

"Am I really needed here?" He asked. Kendall just waved him off.

"It's not going to take all of us." She answered. "Sarah, if you want to go home..."

"I'm good." Sarah answered, looking over Zenowing. "I was only going to watch the latest episodes of that crappy Galaxy Warriors thing anyway. I can catch the re-runs."

Ivan got his coat and left.

"I guess there's not much else we can do." Tyler agreed. "We should probably rest up. I have a feeling it won't be long until we see Doomwing again. Next time, we need to get that Energem back."

"That's a pretty good shout mate." Chase agreed. "Do you have things covered here Ms Morgan?"

"I'll manage." Kendall assured them. "Keeper and Sarah should be able to help."

With that, the other Rangers left, all hoping it wouldn't be long before they could reunite Zenowing with his Energem, all thinking that the end of the war was so close, they could feel it.

Back at the arena, the ring announcer climbed into the ring after the participants had entered. To create more of a big match feel, they had opted to announce the participants after their entrances. Alessandra was in her corner, keeping her weight off her injured knee as much as she could to rest it while they waited for the match to begin.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your main event of the evening, and it is for the Heavyweight Championship!" He announced. "Now, in the corner to my left, from Dublin Ireland, weighing in this evening at 239 pounds, your challenger, a 34 year veteran of the sport, the one, the only, 'The Deer Hunter' Jack Malone!"

Jack barely reacted as the crowd started booing loudly, just staring intently at Alessandra, focused on the match ahead. His actions in the tournament leading up until now had the crowd riled up. Between his violent dissolving of the team with Koda and putting him on the injured list, and his path of destruction marred by some questionable tactics and behaviour, the crowd was raining heat on him like an inferno. Jack started stretching out in preparation for the match to begin.

"And in the corner to my right, hailing from Mexico City Mexico, and weighing in tonight at 99 pounds, your reigning and defending Heavyweight Champion, Cuahocelot!"

Alessandra stood on the ropes, accepting the crowd's adulation for a moment. There was no disputing how the feeling in the arena was that night, Alessandra was the undisputed star of the promotion, and they were whole heartedly behind her. She got off the ropes and headed to the middle of the ring to meet Jack, as the referee called them in.

"You both know the rules; I want a good, clean match." The referee told them. He started to relay his orders, but both Alessandra and Jack just stared at each other, focused on the match ahead. Once the referee was finished with his instructions, Jack extended a hand for a handshake. The crowd booed loudly and willed her not to take his hand. Alessandra reached out to accept the gesture of respect, only to receive a vicious head-butt to the face for her trouble, ending up on the mat. Jack gestured to her to get up, at which Alessandra pulled herself up. The match was on, and Jack had already set the tone!

Over on Heckyl's ship, Doomwing was on his knees, pleading for his life as Arcanon glowered at him, enraged over his loss. Doomwing was a powerful ally, one that represented a significant investment on Arcanon's part. Zenowing's people were powerful warriors to begin with, but with the Silver Energem as well, Doomwing had been a force of nature that had laid waste to entire planets single-handed. Now, having been blind-sided by the Rangers and forced to flee, Arcanon could only think on how much he had lost for virtually no gain against the Rangers.

"Lord Arcanon, please, give me another chance!" Doomwing begged him. "I can still fight!"

"This overgrown turkey couldn't win a pillow fight!" Poisandra chimed in cheerfully, taking nothing but delight in his plight.

"Mmm...imagine the size of those chicken wings!" Curio added. "I wonder if there's any barbecue sauce!"

"You were useful to me because of the Silver Energem." Arcanon stated, powering up a blast. "You could morph because of Zenowing, but now without him, the Silver Energem will not work for someone evil!"

"No, I can still morph! Just watch!" Doomwing said, taking up his sword. "Energise!"

Arcanon, Poisandra and Curio just stared at him as nothing happened. He gulped and desperately started shaking his sword.

"Come on, work you stupid thing!" He growled. "ENERGISE!"

"Performance problems?" Poisandra giggled.

"Having a little trouble making your sword work?" Curio laughed. Doomwing held up his hands as Arcanon approached.

"No, please...I can...I can make it work! I just need to..." He tailed off as he saw Arcanon preparing to obliterate him.

"You were my greatest creation, even better than Snide!" Arcanon told him. "Now, I have nothing more to gain from you!"

"Lord Arcanon, look out!" Doomwing yelled, firing a blast which went straight past him. Arcanon turned around in time to see Heckyl deflecting the blast. He was sneaking up on him, preparing to attack. Arcanon hit him with a full-on blast from the Dark Energem. Heckyl slid to the floor, before a couple of Spikeballs restrained him. He strained against them, trying to get to Arcanon.

"You SCUMBAG!" Heckyl screamed at him. "You took EVERYTHING from me!"

"I took only..."

"You destroyed my entire home planet! You made me what I am!" Heckyl screamed at him in a rage.

"Interesting...so you finally remember do you?" Arcanon asked him.

"I lost everything because of you!" Heckyl screamed at him. "I'll make you pay if it's the LAST THING I DO!"

"Take him away." Arcanon commanded. As Heckyl was dragged away, swearing revenge with his every breath, Arcanon took out the Dark Energem and stared at it. "I'm giving you one last chance Doomwing. Fail me, and you're on your own!"

Back at the arena, the match was well underway, and Alessandra had taken control, rallying to a huge reaction from the crowd. Drop-kicking Jack into the corner, she signalled for another big move, before running and jumping, wrapping her legs around his head, leaning backwards to try and flip him over. Jack grabbed the ropes, bracing himself, and so she just fell backwards, hitting her knee hard on the floor. Clutching her knee, she started rolling around.

Jack came out of the corner and started stalking her, but as he grabbed her, she brushed his hands off and pushed him away. As he stumbled back, surprised, he saw the look on her face and the way she struggled to get back up. She wasn't faking; the landing had badly affected her knee. Jack started stalking her, and ran in behind her, clipping her knee out from under her. Like a predator that smelled blood, he zeroed in on it, much to the crowd's chagrin. As they hurled abuse at him, he chopped her knee down another three, four times.

Grabbing her leg, Jack got to work. The crowd loudly protested his despicable actions, but Jack was an experienced worker. While it looked like he was exploiting an opportunistic injury, he knew that by keeping a hold of her leg, he could control it. He could restrict the movement in the knee and keep it from taking too much more harm while also looking like he was taking advantage. Jack dropped his elbow across the knee a few times as Alessandra screamed in agony. He pulled her to the centre of the ring and turned her over, sitting down into a half-Boston Crab.

The crowd all rallied behind Alessandra, willing her on. She started to crawl towards the ropes, but just before she could get there, Jack pulled her back to the middle of the ring and leaned back into the hold. Alessandra summoned all the strength she could, making one more attempt for the ropes, but as Jack pulled her back to the middle once more, wrenching hard on her leg, she screamed out in agony. He was keeping her knee isolated, but the pain was so intense that tears were streaming down her face. Eventually, she did the only thing she could and tapped out. The bell rang and Jack threw up his hands as she clutched her knee in pain, parading around the ring.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your winner, and NEW..." The announcer was cut off as Jack shoved past him, going outside the ring. He went and grabbed a chair, bringing it back into the ring, scattering the trainers who went in to check on Alessandra. This was the last part of the show, to set up the storyline reason for Alessandra's absence. He raised the chair over his head and brought it down hard on her leg, echoing around the arena. Fans started booing and throwing abuse his way as he battered her repeatedly across the leg with the chair.

He paused for a moment, checking on her to ensure she was alright to continue. Only once he saw a small gesture for her to continue, did he set up for the finale. He opened the chair a little, sliding it over her leg, trapping it inside the chair. He then ran off the ropes, and jumped high in the air, stomping down hard on the chair. It was a spot known as "Pillmanising" an opponent, named for the wrestler Brian Pillman, who popularised it. The theory was that the chair being forced closed would break the leg of the wrestler, but if performed correctly, it made a lot of noise thanks to the aluminium chair, but leaving the leg relatively unharmed. Jack looked down on his handiwork as the trainers finally returned, dragging Alessandra out of the ring. The ring announcer returned to the ring, carrying the championship belt with him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your winner, and NEW Heavyweight champion, 'The Deer Hunter' Jack Malone!" He announced. Jack snatched the belt from him and held it high as he taunted the crowd, yelling at them for doubting him. Garbage rained down on him and several fans tried and failed to break through security to get to him as he held the title high. The Jaguar had fallen, and the Hunter's reign had begun!


	11. Zenowing's Mission

The next day, Kendall woke up with a start as she heard a crashing in the Dino Lab. She had called home and made her excuses since she wanted to stay to see what happened when Zenowing woke up.

Everyone was still unclear exactly what the extent of his injuries were given the fact they didn't even know what his species was, never mind know much about their physiology. So far, the only thing they knew for sure was that his kind appeared to breathe Earth's atmosphere just fine, that their natural heart rate was probably only just a little faster than human's given the fact that every test they took, even when he was at rest seemed to register what would be worryingly high, and that he was lighter than his muscular, almost seven foot form would seem to suggest.

Just about everything else they knew seemed to be purely conjecture based on observation. They presumed he was an exothermic species, given the fact he had feathers and his body temperature was around what they would expect for a warm-blooded species. They presumed his skeleton was probably hollow given the fact he was significantly lighter than expected, likely to accommodate flight, and they presumed at some point at least that his species was capable of flight. Kendall doubted that they were now, given his wingspan didn't appear to be large enough to bear his weight and assumed they were just a genetic hangover from a time they were an aerial species, much the same way as ostriches and emus still had wings, albeit far too small and weak to make flight possible.

Since Zenowing hadn't regained consciousness in the time since they had separated them from Doomwing, she had opted to stay at the lab overnight to observe him...or her...she wasn't entirely sure on that part, since they didn't deem it necessary to remove his clothing to check for further injury. Koda came out of his cave, obviously having been roused as well by the noise. Zenowing appeared to be on his feet, and trying to leave the lab, but he had stumbled into one of the benches, scattering some equipment as he went to retrieve his sword from the benches.

"Whoa there, ease up a little!" Kendall said in a soothing voice, trying to reason with the alien. She had a lot of flashbacks to when Koda had first defrosted. Zenowing stared at her in a way that made her feel like he was in a natural fight-or-flight state, and wonder if she needed to consider the possibility he would lash out at her. The fact he appeared to show rows of sharp teeth inside his beak didn't help matters. Many early species of birds, those only recently descended from dinosaurs, were found to have fanged beaks, and it made her wonder if his kind had evolved along that path as opposed to humans who evolved from primates. Koda was starting to move closer, taking up a club gently as he approached, though Kendall gestured him to stay back. She knew his protective nature well enough to have guessed this would be his response.

"Ranger?" He asked, seeing her. Kendall just nodded and pulled out her Energem, showing it to Zenowing.

"Yes, that's right, we're Rangers." She told him. "We're friends."

"Friends?" He responded in a tone that sounded a little off. He brushed past her, looking around, presumably for a way out. Kendall took his arm.

"You should probably rest for now." She told him. "We're not sure how much the separation has taken out of you."

"I am fine." Zenowing told her. "Where is the exit?"

"I'd really recommend..."

"I will be fine!" Zenowing told her flatly, interrupting her so sharply that Koda flinched, bringing up his club. Zenowing either didn't notice, or didn't seem to pay the threat much mind as he didn't react to this. "I must go."

"Why you go?" Koda asked him. "You need heal. No have Energem to help."

"I must retrieve my Energem from Doomwing." Zenowing told them. "It bonded to me. I am sworn to protect it."

"And we will get it back, as a team." Kendall stated, trying to reason with him.

"No, this is my fight. I must do this alone." He answered, shoving Kendall out of the way as he seemed to find the door. "You will only get in my way."

Kendall tried to protest, but she didn't seem to know what to tell him to try and make him stay. He got to the door, but it didn't open. He just stared at it for a moment, before turning back to them. Koda walked over and pressed the elevator call button. When the elevator arrived, Zenowing got in and seemed to figure out how it worked from there. Apparently his kind had developed elevators on his home world. Without a word, he went up in the elevator, at which Kendall just sighed.

"He no thank, he think we nuisance." He said grumpily. "How wude."

"Koda, you have GOT to stop watching 'The Phantom Menace'." Kendall groaned. Keeper arrived, seemingly having been bothered by Zenowing's behaviour.

"He was never like this when I knew him." Keeper said thoughtfully. "He has been bonded to Zenowing for some time. I believe that may have poisoned his mind."

"Whatever the case, it's probably best he's not alone." Kendall stated. "Koda, you should follow him, make sure..."

"I...I no can go." Koda told her, looking sheepish. "Alessandra send me message. She hurt in last match, need go hospital, want me to be there."

"Is it serious?" Kendall asked him. "Because Zenowing's out looking for Doomwing..."

"She say she go surgery." Koda answered. Kendall just nodded in understanding.

"Of course, you go." Kendall said, getting out her communicator. "Give her my best. I'll call the others."

Over on Arcanon's ship, Doomwing was preparing for his upcoming return to the battlefield. Losing his ability to morph into the Silver Ranger meant he had lost a lot of firepower, but that didn't matter to Arcanon. All he cared about was the power the Energem would grant.

Doomwing could use the Energem when he and Zenowing still shared a body. The Silver Energem had bonded with Zenowing when he was battling Arcanon on a distant world Aeons ago, but now that they had separated; only Doomwing's evil remained. The Energem was bonded, so it wouldn't reject him, but it would not respond to the commands of a creature with no good in it such as himself. He knew what Arcanon's play was, if he could find a way to access the power again as he had promised, so much the better, but if he didn't and he was destroyed, then Arcanon would still have the Silver Energem, even if he did have to find a new way to access its power.

Putting the Silver Energem into its housing in his sword, he steeled himself to seek out Zenowing. He had shared a body with him for millions of years and knew that he would already be looking for him. His order of Paladins were so predictable in their silly code of honour that it was laughably simple to predict that he would come for him. Zenowing would see it as his responsibility to retrieve the Silver Energem and bring it back to the side of good. That would give them all the opportunity he needed to capture him and reunite with him.

He snapped around as he heard an alarm going off, and ran from his cell, making his way to the maximum security block. When he got there, he found Singe, Fury, Arcanon and Wrench all gathered around, looking in on Heckyl's cell. This time, they were taking no chances, and had him shackled hand and foot to keep him from attempting to escape again, but they hadn't counted on Snide. He had transformed in some time since they had locked him up, and now the unfortunate Spikeball that had come to feed him had been caught by a massive green tentacle and was being held aloft, screaming and struggling as he crushed the life from it. Singe was aiming his Last Blaster at him.

"Why didn't you tell us about that tentacle Fury?" Singe yelled at him, trying to aim his Last Blaster.

"He hardly ever uses it." Fury sneered in response. He was kind of hoping that Snide would surprise someone more important like Singe or possibly even Arcanon that way.

"If you think I care for Spikeballs you really should think twice about your choice of hostage." Arcanon scoffed, waving him off. "Go ahead and crush him for all I care!"

"Oh, I know you don't care about Spikeballs, this was just to get your attention." Snide answered, crushing the creature and dropping its corpse on the floor. "I wanted to talk about a proposition I have for you."

"This is how you open a negotiation?" Wrench said sarcastically. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"I only use my tentacle for special occasions. I could easily have kept this surprise for when I could have gotten someone a little more valuable." Snide reminded him. "I want to join you."

"Join me?" Arcanon laughed.

"I am a powerful warrior with extensive experience against the Rangers." Snide reminded him.

"Yes, there's just the small matter of Heckyl." Fury responded. "Last time I checked, he didn't exactly share your views on Lord Arcanon."

"But we can be separated!" Snide said, looking to Doomwing. "We know that technology exists. You can trust my loathing of the Rangers."

"The Rangers fled with Zenowing before they could collect their devices, I have them in my lab." Wrench stated. "I'm sure I could figure out how to use them!"

"See if you can separate them. If they are destroyed, it's no loss to me." Arcanon said in an off-hand way. "As for you Doomwing, what are you still doing here?"

As they all started to leave, some chimes sounded. Snide looked to where his sword was resting just out of reach. The hilt opened up and Heckyl's face appeared.

"You treacherous scum! You would side with Arcanon?" He screamed. "After everything he did?"

"I never cared for your Sentai 6. I only care for carnage and chaos!" Snide responded. "With Arcanon, there's guaranteed to be plenty of both!"

"You'll never get away with this!" Heckyl screamed. Snide just laughed.

"Like I've never heard that before." He responded.

In the woods outside the city, the Rangers had gone out to train, knowing that it would likely not be long until they saw Doomwing again. The fact that the final Energem was within their grasp was on everyone's mind, and they now could all see the end of the war. Phillipe peeked around from behind a football launcher.

"Are you both ready?" He asked. Shelby and Tyler both nodded, at which he fired a ball into the air. They both opened fire, blasting it out of the air.

"I got it!" They chorused, before staring at each other. "No, I did! STOP COPYING ME!"

They just laughed at this, but elsewhere, Ivan and Riley were working on their sword work. Ivan slipped Riley's guard and managed to get behind him, levelling his sword at the Green Rangers' throat.

"I would have expected that manoeuvre to work on a twelve-year-old squire." Ivan teased him. "Distracted Sir Riley?"

"Matt says he's going home. He told me he was packing as we left. He said he'll be gone by the time we get home." Riley told him. Ivan just looked at him. "I knew he would eventually, but, it still seems pretty soon. He needs more time to recover."

"I do not believe 'Granite Matt' was ever one for doctor's orders." Ivan commented.

"I know, but it's all so sudden." Riley told him. He edged a little closer. "I think something might have happened between him and Ms Morgan."

"You believe they may have resumed their relationship?" Ivan asked him. Riley just sighed.

"I think...hell, I KNOW Matt wants to. I'm just not so sure about Ms Morgan." He answered.

"In my experience Sir Riley, people are rarely thankful to people that get involved in their relationships." Ivan told him. "And believe me; I have had more than a few relationships."

"But I thought Erin was..."

"I did have a life before her." Ivan said with a smile. "The jousting tour was quite the buffet as far as that was concerned."

"Hey, Ivan!" Shelby called over, looking annoyed. "That's my bestie you're with, remember?"

"Indeed, I am. That doesn't mean I was a corpse before her." Ivan said. "Not to mention it is just the done thing for a gentleman to sow some wild oats."

Shelby was about to say something, but Chase came into view, holding his Dino Comm.

"Guys, Ms Morgan just called." Chase told them. "Zenowing's on the move."

"He's awake?" Tyler asked. "Then we should go to the lab and..."

"No, he's on the move!" Chase clarified. "She told me he's left the lab, he's already looking for Doomwing!"

"Are you kidding me? Yesterday he was barely breathing and now he thinks he's up to taking on Doomwing?" Shelby asked the team, looking alarmed. "What's he thinking?"

"He's thinking about his avowed duty." Ivan stated. "I would expect nothing less from a Paladin."

"Paladin?" Chase asked. Keeper had described Zenowing as a Paladin on his home planet, but he hadn't really told them what that meant.

"A Paladin was a militant member of a religious order, a combination between a knight and a monk." Ivan explained. "I knew a few in my day, and if the Paladins on his world are anything like the Paladins I knew, the only thing that would cause one to halt in his duties would be his demise."

"We should go and look for him." Phillipe declared. Just then, they heard a strange sound coming from a short distance away. He furrowed his brows. "What's that?"

"It sounds like some kind of energy attack." Riley commented. "I think it's coming from over there!"

They hurriedly made their way towards the sound, preparing for battle. As they found it though, they found Zenowing alone in the wood, attacking a harmless piece of rock. His sword was glowing with energy and traced an intricate pattern around him as he attacked the rock. The Rangers just watched this display for a moment.

"What is he doing?" Shelby asked.

"He seems to be practicing." Riley said, looking impressed by the display.

"He has been laid up for a while." Ivan interjected. "It makes sense he would wish to ensure he's ready before he faces such a dangerous foe. Better to find out you're missing a step before you face your enemy than when he is standing in front of you."

They watched as he paused for a moment and stone fell away from the rock, leaving behind a perfect diamond shape carved in solid rock. It was an impressive display of skill, and also the capabilities of his sword. He stood back, powering up for something.

"Silver, Prism, SLASH!" He called out, tracing a triangular shape in the air, before sending it spinning towards the rock, shattering it. He turned around as he heard a round of applause, only then noticing that the Rangers were there.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Tyler called out.

"You were watching me train?" Zenowing asked them.

"Well...just for a little while." They responded as they were trying to think of what to say.

"And now I suppose you expect me to thank you for the compliment." He said bad-temperedly. The Rangers just looked confused.

"Well...it would be nice." Chase offered.

"I don't train to impress you! I train because I must defeat Doomwing and retrieve my Energem!" Zenowing stated abruptly.

"Well, we all have an interest in that." Phillipe said, stepping forward. "It is our planet at stake."

"You would only get in my way." Zenowing said, returning to his training. Chase just looked disgusted by this.

"He thinks we'll hold him back?" Chase asked. Riley decided to try a different tack and stepped forward.

"You know, I'm something of a swordsman as well, maybe we could teach each other a few things." Riley suggested. "I'd really like to learn that Prism Slash, that looks pretty cool..."

"A human would never be able to learn that move." Zenowing said without even turning around. "And my kind were developing the way of the sword before your species crawled out of the primordial slime. I sincerely doubt there is anything you could teach me. Now, leave me be."

"Arsehole." Chase muttered.

"Well, we found him, that's all we needed to do to make sure he's safe." Tyler said, gesturing to him. "We know where he is, we can go with him if he wants to go find Doomwing."

"He's such a jerk!" Shelby agreed.

"Paladins were a humourless bunch in my day as well." Ivan commented. "They were certainly not much fun around the taverns."

With that, they all left, leaving Zenowing to train alone. They knew where he was, and they would be able to help him if Doomwing found him or he went looking for Doomwing, but right now, no one said that they had to socialise with him, which was just as well since it seemed Zenowing had little interest in socialising himself.

Over at the museum, things were quiet. Flash had inexplicably closed the museum, allowing everyone to catch up on some of their duties that often got neglected on busier days and catch up. Allison was busy scrubbing out the fryers when Leanne came in.

"Hey, Allison, Flash just called us all to the foyer." She told her. "He said he has some kind of big announcement."

"What is it now?" Allison groaned. "Is he cutting back again?"

"Probably, but he said this is about the exciting new attraction for the museum!" Leanne said, doing her best impression of him and accentuating the point with an impromptu jazz-hands. Allison just rolled her eyes, throwing her scouring pad into a bucket of soapy water.

"Well, I guess I could take a break from being armpit-deep in grease and months old crumbs." She muttered. "Alright, lead the way!"

They all got to the foyer, where Flash was waiting for them. Everyone was in, except for the Rangers, which for a day the museum was closed was extremely unusual. They found Sarah at the front of the crowd. There was a large crate standing right next to Flash, who had a grin on his face like a kid at Christmas.

"OK, what's going on?" Allison asked.

"No no, don't go spoiling the surprise!" Flash said, directing the crowd. "All of you stand where you can see...you at the back, come in a little...that's it! Now, this is a day you will ALL remember. When Disney Land opened Space Mountain, when Universal Studios opened the Back To The Future ride, when Rainbow Corners opened..."

"Can we get on with this please?" Allison interrupted him impatiently. "I have grease running pretty much everywhere...and I do mean EVERYWHERE, and it's REALLY uncomfortable. I'd like to finish up and take a shower for the next couple of hours!"

"This is going to be bigger than all of them!" Flash said, ignoring her completely as he put on a headset that looked like it belonged in a flight simulator. "This is the latest and greatest creation of my animatronics business. Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of Amber Beach Museum, let me introduce you to...WORG! Worg, come on out!"

They all jumped back as a fist came crashing through the front of the crate.

"WORG!" A tinny, mechanical voice said, before another fist crashed through. It started flailing about, obliterating the crate, before stepping out in front of them. It held up its hands. "WORG!"

The staff all just stared blankly at it.

"Oh dear God." Sarah gasped, looking at the robot's ugly, emotionless features. "Um...this is your new attraction?"

"I know, amazing isn't it?" Flash said giddily. "Look, just watch what it can do. Worg, look for prey!"

"WORG!" It called out, shielding its eyes with a hand and turning its head this way and that as though looking for imaginary animals to hunt. None of them looked too impressed.

"Worg, intruders, protect your camp!" Flash told it.

"WORG!" It called out, stomping its feet and making noise, waving its arms around in a chaotic manner, trying to scare off the 'intruders', namely the staff members on duty.

"Uh...OK, that's..."

"Amazing?" Flash asked, interrupting Sarah.

"That's...certainly one word for it!" Leanne commented. Flash just smiled.

"You think that's good, check this out!" He said. "Worg, the blonde one at the front, fetch!"

"WORG!" It called out, before moving towards Leanne. However, it didn't get more than two steps before tripping up and ending up face-planting onto the floor. It started flailing around helplessly. "WORG!"

"That's not meant to happen." He said, looking confused, flicking through the instructions. "How did that happen?"

"I've got fryers to clean." Allison sighed, heading off. Leanne and Sarah followed her as everyone left to go back to what they were doing before Flash's announcement.

"Wow, that was just...WOW!" Leanne stated.

"I could throw something together better than that thing in my lunch break." Sarah said, flicking a thumb in the direction of where Flash was trying to get Worg to get back up. "How much did his company piss away on that?"

"More importantly, how much of ANTON'S money did he piss away on that thing?" Leanne asked.

"More than enough to hire someone to clean those fryers that's for sure." Allison grumbled as they all broke off to leave Flash to his new toy.


	12. Zenowing's Battle

At Amber Beach Hospital, Alessandra was in a room, waiting on the bed for Koda. There was a doctor standing, looking a little impatient as Koda finally arrived. He made his way over, kissing Alessandra.

"I come as soon as I get message." Koda told her, parting from her a little way.

"I really glad you here." She replied, smiling as she saw him.

"We are too; she refused to go ahead with the treatment until you were here." The doctor said in an impatient tone. "She wouldn't even get into her gown until she knew you were here."

"You need let doctor work." Koda told her. "They need make you better. You hurt last night..."

"Last night? This thing's been backing up on her for months." The doctor scoffed. Koda glared at the doctor, and then back to her.

"You hurt before last night?" Koda asked her. The doctor just laughed.

"Her knee's hanging by a thread, after last night, it's a miracle she didn't completely blow out her ACL." The doctor told him. "If she'd done that, she'd be pretty much done."

Koda grabbed the doctor and marched him out the door, having lost patience with him.

"Doctor no tell anyone but patient about them." Koda said, stating his simplistic understanding of doctor/patient privilege. While Koda was upset that she hadn't told him herself, he was more annoyed at the doctor's rather abrupt manner with her and wanted to remind him that what he had said without authorisation from her could land him in a lot of trouble. He slammed the door, before turning back to her.

"Why you no tell me you hurt?" Koda asked her.

"I no want you worry." Alessandra told him, reaching out to him. "It my problem."

"No such thing your problem." Koda said to her. "Any Koda problem your problem, any your problem my problem."

"You have so many problem with Heckyl, with Snide, with Alkalai..."

"Arcanon." Koda corrected her. She just shrugged.

"I no want be distraction." She told him. Koda cupped her cheek with his hand.

"Your problem my problem, that always case." He said, smiling. "You no burden to me. You my heart."

Alessandra kissed him deeply, grateful to hear these words. She had kept her injury to herself, not wanting Koda to worry about her or to try and make her stop before she had the chance to drop her title. Now, with him here for her, she knew that she had made a mistake. Koda was always going to be there for her, regardless of what happened.

"Bring Dr Asshole back in." She told him. "I get knee fixed."

Koda went to the door and opened it, finding the doctor still waiting outside.

"You help now." Koda stated flatly. The doctor just looked to her.

"Alright, get changed." He told her. "There's a slot open in the ER soon."

Doomwing made his way back to McAdam forest with Wrench. Wrench was hoping that the Rangers' tech was still there. While he would be able to create such devices himself, there was no telling how long it would take to figure out how they had done it, and of course, the first rule of science was why create something from scratch if there was already something that existed that could fit the bill? Following the battle, the Rangers had taken the unconscious Zenowing away from the battle site so quickly, they hadn't stopped to collect their splitting devices, so he pinned his hopes on the fact that since they hadn't been seen since, they would still be there. It turned out it was a gamble that paid off.

"Ha, they never came back for these!" Wrench said as he arrived by Doomwing's side, carrying the devices in his arms. "You'd think with nine of them on the team at least one of them would spare the time to come back. Let's see the look on that pretty blonde scientist's face when she realises..."

"Your petty grudge is of no interest to me!" Doomwing interrupted him. "You got what you came for, now get out of here!"

"What are you going to do?" Wrench asked.

"I'm going to settle MY petty grudge!" Doomwing replied, standing in the centre of the clearing and letting out a horrendous high-pitched shriek that carried in the wind for miles around.

Where they were training in the woods, the Rangers heard an unnatural shriek. They were used to hearing animal calls and suchlike, but this was completely unlike anything they had ever heard.

"Anyone want to bet that's Doomwing?" Tyler asked. They were all barely able to get out the way as Zenowing came charging through at speed, almost knocking them all out of the way, heading in the direction of the shriek.

"Something tells me that's a bet you'd win easily." Shelby responded as they ran to keep up with him. He set an impressive pace for someone who only a day earlier had been unconscious for the better part of a whole day. Even with the power of their Energems, the Rangers were only just able to keep up. They quickly recognised where they were as they arrived back at the clearing in McAdam forest. Zenowing of course was the first to arrive. Doomwing was waiting in the centre of the clearing for him.

"Missing something?" Doomwing taunted him, bringing up the sword, which they knew held the Silver Energem. Zenowing confronted him.

"The Silver Energem will not bond to an evil soul!" Zenowing announced. "You cannot morph on your own!"

"I won't be on my own for long." Doomwing cackled. Zenowing knew what his plan had to be. He knew enough about Arcanon from his time connected to Doomwing that he knew he only valued Doomwing as anything other than a lower-tier underling because he could access the power of the Silver Energem. Without it, he was no more powerful or valuable to Arcanon than around 90 percent of the monsters under his command. Zenowing was about to act, until the Rangers leapt over him, landing between him and Doomwing, morphed and ready for battle.

"You may be powerful, but not more powerful than all of us!" Riley warned him. "Give him back his Energem and we'll let you live!"

"This is how you fight now? Seven on one? That hardly seems very fair, or fitting of a Paladin does it now?" Doomwing taunted him.

"You take on one of us, you take on...YEAARRGGHHHH!" Shelby said, screaming as an energy blast surged past her, so closely she could feel the heat from it, straight towards Doomwing. It was only just after this that both she and Tyler were both roughly bundled to the ground as Zenowing rushed through between them without a care, shoving them both out of his way.

"Stay back Rangers, this is MY fight!" Zenowing warned them as he rushed straight for Doomwing, and the two clashed in savage combat, their swords glowing brightly and carving intricate patterns in the air as they went for each other. The Rangers already knew how powerful each of those strikes were, having seen what they could do to a boulder. If the boulder didn't stop them, their swords would have little trouble against a limb.

"Zenowing, what the hell?" Shelby yelled as she got to her feet.

"It looks like Zenowing wasn't the only one that brought back-up." Phillipe commented as the clearing suddenly filled with Viviks and Spikeballs.

"Difference is, Doomwing seems to actually want to work with HIS back-up." Chase said sarcastically, bringing out his Dino Blaster.

"Guys, we can call out Zenowing later." Tyler told them. "Right now, we have a lot more to worry about."

Over at the museum, Sarah had gathered up some waste from the gift shop deliveries and was taking it out back. She had passed by Flash, still with Worg, trying to figure out the finer points of his controls, and was still trying hard not to take amusement in his unfailing belief in this new attraction. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what he was thinking with it. She was just glad that she didn't have to foot the bill for it, but given the fact he had already cut the cost on staff lunches and started docking wages to cover losses, she wouldn't put it past him to try and find a way.

As she got out to the dumpsters and threw out her trash, she heard something from a little way off. At first, she thought it might just be some other staff members taking advantage of the fact that they had a full complement of staff on a day the museum was closed and going out for an unscheduled break, but when there wasn't any of the usual chatter, she quickly changed her mind. In fact, it sounded like the person was trying, but failing quite spectacularly to be quiet. She made her way over, but as she got closer, she confirmed it wasn't a staff member. Not only did staff have to wear uniforms, they generally didn't carry large bags with them, or enter the property over the high fence!

The stranger was wearing a hooded top, and a baseball cap. She couldn't see his face, but from the looks of him and the way he climbed over the fence with ease, she presumed he had to be young, and pretty fit with it. She watched as she dragged his bag closer to a wall and pulled out a can, beginning to shake it.

She now remembered, she had heard the guys complaining about a graffiti artist who had been vandalising the area around the museum for weeks. So far, no one had caught him, and all they had was glimpses of him on the security cameras. She made her way quietly closer, something that seemed to come naturally to her. She had often been told it was creepy how easily she found it to sneak up on others. He didn't notice, being too busy shaking a can of paint, and seeming to consider how to add to his latest masterpiece that hadn't been covered up yet.

She was almost right up behind him when he started spraying. It was going to be a lot easier than she thought to catch him. Maybe if she caught the guy, Flash would reconsider all the fines he had handed her. As she got up behind him, she grabbed his arm, wrenching it up behind him and slammed him against the wall.

"You know, they have laws against that kind of thing!" She told him. The guy started to struggle, but she knew she had him under control. A few martial arts lessons had given her a pretty good grasp of how to keep hold of someone, even if he was bigger than her. Just to make a point though, she pulled him back and thrust him towards the wall again. This seemed to be a mistake though as he used the momentum to run up the wall and flip right over her.

"Whoa!" She called out as she tried to regain her balance. She turned to see the vandal leaping up crates and heading for the fence. He appeared to have pretty impressive free-running skills, something she had no doubt came in handy at times like this. However, she was pretty quick on her feet herself. She managed to get up the fence quickly enough to grab his jacket as he was trying to get over the fence. It was only now that she was close enough to see he had a scarf over his face.

"Let go of me!" He called out to her as she tried to drag him back.

"Sorry, that's not happening!" She told him, trying to pull him back over. He started to slip.

"Crazy bitch, I'll break my neck!" He complained. "Let go!"

"I think I just need a better grip!" She said, grabbing for the scarf over his face. She pulled it away, and suddenly fell silent. "What...the...fu..."

Her thought drifted off as the guy managed to get a hand against her face and pushed her off. Sarah fell to the ground, where the back of her head rattled off the concrete. He dropped to the other side of the fence, and seeing that she wasn't moving, he stopped still. He considered for a moment climbing back over to check on her, but when he saw a couple of other staff running out of the museum, he turned tail and ran off.

"HEY!" Leanne screamed, coming over to the fence and rattling it.

"Leanne!" Allison called out, seeing her backing up, and knowing she was going to leap over the fence to give chase. "LEANNE! Sarah's hurt!"

Leanne wanted to go after the graffiti artist, but relented. Allison was right, the important thing was Sarah, and getting her the help she needed. She returned to Allison's side.

"She's hurt, she's hurt really bad." Allison said in a panic, holding up her hand, which was covered in blood. "She's..."

"She's unconscious, but she's breathing." Leanne assured her. "I can hear her heart beating."

"You do know that's kind of creepy right?" Allison asked her.

"It's kind of handy too." Leanne answered, pulling out her cell phone. "Hello? I need an ambulance right away to the loading entrance of Amber Beach Museum."

Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers were holding their own, but it looked like Arcanon was willing to expend a lot of his underlings on this effort. Given the fact that the power of an Energem was at stake, it wasn't really much of a surprise.

Zenowing found Doomwing a difficult opponent to fight. Not only had they been together a long time, they were almost literally one and the same. Doomwing was just as accomplished a warrior as him, and had an extensive knowledge of the same techniques he did.

Zenowing swiped Doomwing's sword aside, before scoring a slash directly across his abdomen; however, he stumbled back as he felt something hit him. He grabbed his stomach in pain and collapsed to his knees. Doomwing cackled loudly as he carved a flaming X in the air.

"Doom SLASH!" He called out, sending the burning X straight at Zenowing. The explosion was so large that it stopped everyone in the clearing from fighting and they all looked over. Both of them were smoking as the dust cleared and Doomwing was marching towards him. He stood over Zenowing cackling.

"You're coming with me!" He taunted Zenowing. "One touch of the Dark Energem and you'll never be free again!"

"NO!" Riley screamed as he activated his Energem and ran the full length of the clearing, heading straight for Doomwing. He powered up his Dino Sabre with a Dino Charger, but despite his size, Doomwing managed to dodge aside. He swung around, his blade glowing brightly as he brought it down across Riley's exposed abdomen. The Green Ranger sank to his knees and then flopped face-first to the ground. Glowing for a moment, his suit disappeared, leaving Riley unmoving on the ground.

"RILEY!" Chase called out, opening fire on Doomwing and sending him rolling back out of the way. He grabbed Riley and ran back to the others.

"Guys, it looks pretty bad." Chase told them. "We need to get him out of here."

"Easier said than done I fear." Phillipe added as the enemy forces surrounded them. "I don't think they're allowing us to clear casualties from the field."

"Stand back!" Keeper said as he arrived in a cloud of smoke. He swung his staff around, before another explosion ripped through the valley. As the smoke cleared, the Rangers found themselves back in the Dino Lab. Kendall saw them carrying Riley's limp body and immediately ran over.

"What happened?" Kendall demanded as Chase brought Riley towards the medical bench.

"Riley took a hit, he got hit hard." Chase told her. "Do you think you can help him?"

Kendall grabbed Riley's shirt and ripped it open, staring at the wound on his abdomen. It didn't look like any normal wound, it was wide, and long, and it was glowing!

"I...I...I really don't know! I've never seen a wound like this!" Kendall told them. "I'll do what I can! Chase, call Matt."

"But he was leaving..."

"Just...call him!" Kendall told him. "Hopefully he's still in the city. If he is, he'll want to be here."

Zenowing pulled himself to his feet, making his way towards them. He looked down on Riley as they surrounded him, checking on their friend.

"I told you it was my fight." Zenowing stated. "It's his fault he got hurt!"

The Rangers all turned towards him, staring at him in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" Shelby asked incredulously.

"Riley got in the way!" He said with coldness in his tone.

"And you should be grateful he did!" Tyler told him angrily. "Riley just saved your life! You don't even seem to care!"

"I never asked him to..."

Zenowing didn't get to finish his thought. Chase hooked him, connecting solidly with his beak and knocking him to the floor.

"If you're not going to do anything to help, then seriously, just shut up and give us room." Chase warned him. Zenowing got back up, at which Keeper approached him, pulling him aside.

"Zenowing, my old friend. I certainly hope you did not mean what you just said." Keeper told him. "That is not the Zenowing I remember."

"I need to meditate, to reflect on my defeat." Zenowing told him. "When I face Doomwing again, I must defeat him."

As he left, Keeper just shook his head.

"My old friend, what has Doomwing done to you?" He asked.


	13. Zenowing's Honour

Zenowing left the Dino Lab, looking for somewhere to go and meditate, to prepare for his upcoming battle with Doomwing. It was clear he had gone too early, that he hadn't prepared properly, that much was clear in his defeat. He was determined that it would not happen again. As long as Doomwing existed, it was his responsibility to bring his cursed existence to an end.

He got to the museum floor, and started looking around. As he walked through, he found a man staring at a mannequin, a book in his hand, and holding a tool kit. He approached the man from behind.

"Excuse me, which way is it to access the roof?" Doomwing asked him.

"The roof?" Flash asked, not even looking at him. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I wish to go to the roof." Zenowing told him. "I need somewhere to meditate."

"Meditate?" Flash asked. He just humphed and flicked a thumb over his shoulder. "Bloody religious nuts, no doubt you'll make a fuss if I don't let you go. South-West corner, you'll find a ladder. Don't forget to clock out though! This counts as your break! No way I'm paying you to sit around praying."

Zenowing didn't answer, the man hadn't looked at him, obviously he believed that Zenowing was one of his employees. He just opted to leave, finding his way to the roof access.

Making his way up to the roof, he found a spot and sat down, crossing his legs, before laying his sword across his lap. Closing his eyes, he cleared his mind and prepared to focus himself for his upcoming battle.

He pushed from his mind the other Rangers and their words. They didn't understand, none of them could know the devastation that Arcanon could wreak. Only he had faced him, had seen the countless worlds he had left as lifeless wastelands in his wake.

Destroying Doomwing was his only thought now. To release the Silver Energem from his grasp was vital to attaining the power they would need to destroy Arcanon for good. As he tried to clear his thoughts though, all he could see was the Green Ranger, rushing into the path of danger, and taking the shot that was meant for him.

Koda was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, anxiously drumming his feet as he waited for any word on Alessandra. She had gone into surgery a little while ago to repair the damage to her knee. Koda didn't claim to understand modern medicine, but his tribe did have healers. It was always a nerve-wracking experience when one of the members of the tribe was hurt or fell ill. There was always a time between when treatment started and when the healer told them that the person was recovering where their friends and family worried whether or not they would recover. While things were a lot better now, and there was far better technology and treatments than available in his day, that was the one thing that never changed.

He got up, and headed to the snack machine, and rummaged around in his pockets, looking for some money for something. Taking a look at the meagre contents of his pocket, he sighed, and then returned to his seat. It was something he had done now over a dozen times, almost as though somehow hoping that another quarter, or even a nickel or two had magically appeared in his pocket, but in truth, his mind was so far from his own concerns he simply didn't realise he had already done this. As he sat down, he saw another patient being wheeled in. He had seen a couple of patients come in, but this one was wearing a museum uniform. He stood up, quickly realising it was Sarah.

He tried to get the attention of a doctor to ask what had happened, but they were rushing her into a ward to examine her. He had been away for most of the day, and it concerned him to think that something must have happened while he was away. He pulled out his cell phone, scrolling through the phone book. The first number was Alessandra, but the next one was Allison. Knowing she'd still be at the museum, he made the call.

"Koda?" She asked.

"Sarah just come into hospital." Koda rushed out. "What happen? Everything alright?"

"Things are actually pretty crazy right now." She told him honestly. "The others were in a battle with Doomwing; they brought in Riley a little while ago. Apparently he's in a pretty bad way."

"Riley hurt?" Koda asked, beginning to feel guilty. Although he had been excused to be at the hospital for Alessandra, he never knew about the battle. None of them had called him. "Everyone..."

"Everyone's pretty on edge, but there's not much we can do right now until he comes back." Allison told him honestly.

"You want I come back?" He asked her.

"Honestly...I don't think there's much you can do here." Allison answered. "The others will call you if they need you."

"What happen Sarah?" Koda asked her. "Doomwing hurt?"

"No, she was hurt at the museum." She admitted. "You know that guy that's been vandalising the museum?"

"The one who paint walls?" Koda asked her.

"Yeah, he was here. Sarah found him and tried to catch him." Allison informed him. "She took a pretty bad fall..."

"He hurt Sarah?" Koda roared, snapping to his feet and causing a stir. A nurse came across. "Koda find! Koda..."

"Easy Koda, easy, he's gone." Allison assured him. "If he's got any brains he won't be back either, the feeling's pretty much mutual here. Everyone wants a crack at this guy."

"Sir, people are sick, they're trying to rest." The nurse warned Koda. "If you can't stay calm I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Sorry." Koda answered, before returning to the call. "Someone call Sarah family?"

"It's being dealt with." Allison told him. "I'm just going to see Flash now."

"Koda do anything?" He asked her.

"Just stay there and look after Alessandra." She said with a smile. "When she wakes up, I'm sure she'd love to see a friendly face."

"I will." Koda answered. "Call if need me."

"We will." Allison responded. As she hung up, she was approaching Flash, who was on the phone. She had told him about the accident, and he had seen the ambulance crew, so she could only presume he was dealing with the fallout of this incident. She was just going to ask him what they could do to help, but as she approached, she found the call to be very different from what she was expecting.

"I'm sorry your daughter's been hurt Mrs Thompson, but this really isn't a museum concern." He said as he continued to read the instruction manual for his pet project, Worg. "Yes, I know she was hurt on museum grounds...Mrs Thompson...Mrs Thompson, if you'd let me explain..."

Allison just face-palmed and stared between her fingers at him in disbelief. One of his workers was just taken away in a stretcher and he was actually on the phone to her mother to argue the finer points of liability!

"Mrs Thompson, your daughter was injured in the attempt to apprehend a criminal. Last time I checked, she wasn't a cop!" He continued. "Well, if you look at her contract, in the terms and conditions you'll find the museum has a strict non-confrontation policy on crime. By confronting a criminal, your daughter violated her contract. Her injury is her own fault; the museum's insurance doesn't need to cover her treatment."

Allison just threw her hands up. That was his concern? The insurance?

"Well, if you want to get technical about it, your daughter is in breach of contract. I'd have every right to terminate her contract!" Flash said. "Well, I look forward to hearing from your attorney, but I think our attorneys are better than yours."

With that, he hung up. Allison just came around where he could see her.

"What the HELL was that?" She screamed at him.

"That, my precious wannabe, was how you handle a parent looking to make a frivolous lawsuit." Flash stated.

"Sarah almost split her skull open trying to protect YOUR museum...and you're worried about the insurance?" Allison asked him. "She could have broken her neck!"

"And that would still have been her problem, not mine. No one TOLD her to go playing Power Rangers." He scoffed. "Oh, and she's landed me in a right royal mess trying to cover her shifts. Think I can get that old bird to cover for free? It'd save on her wages..."

"OK, not only are you not paying for her treatment, but you're not paying her WAGES?" Allison shrieked. He just smiled.

"It's all in the fine print love." He answered. "You and your mates can do a whip around for a bunch of flowers if you like, but as for the museum, it really isn't our problem."

"Unbelievable." She muttered, shaking her head and storming away. Flash just shrugged and went back to work.

"Now, I think this should just about do it..."

In the Dino Lab, the Rangers were watching over Riley. Matt entered the Dino Lab, having been called back shortly before he was due to head back to Millport. Kendall came up to him.

"Matt, I'm really sorry, this..."

"I know it's not your fault." Matt told her. He looked over to where Leanne was sitting by Riley's side, holding his hand. "Has she been...?"

"She came down when she heard about Riley." Kendall told him. Matt just nodded in understanding as he made his way over. He could see Riley's vitals on the monitors next to him.

"How is he?" He asked her.

"His vitals are registering, but they are weak." Kendall told him. "I'm doing everything I can, but I've never seen a wound like this. I don't know how to treat him."

"Thanks for calling." He told her.

"You should be here." Kendall told him. Despite what had happened between them, she couldn't have forgiven herself for not calling him and letting Matt be there for his brother. While Riley was strong, and she was sure the Green Energem was working overtime to heal him, she was still worried about him. The wound was mystical in nature, and she had no idea what was happening to him. That he was weakened so drastically brought up real concerns for his life. Kendall took Matt over beside his brother, where he sat down. Leanne barely stirred as he sat down. She looked up to him; her eyes still red from tears.

"I...I'll just..."

"No, its fine, you should stay." He assured her. Leanne wasn't in a relationship with Riley, but her feelings were clear to pretty much everyone other than the Green Ranger it seemed. He sat with her at Riley's side, at which an alarm sounded. Tyler checked the computer.

"It's Doomwing, he's back." Tyler told Kendall. "It looks like he's brought some company this time."

"Go." Kendall told them. "I'll keep watch here."

"I'll contact Koda." Shelby told them. "Someone should find Zenowing..."

"Zenowing's made it pretty clear how he feels about us." Chase stated as they got up and headed out. Kendall stayed behind to help monitor Riley as the Rangers went to face Doomwing, each of them eager to exact their revenge on Doomwing for their fallen friend.

Doomwing made his way into the city, this time accompanied by Singe and Fury. They had been ordered to go with him this time in order to ensure that the battle reached its end. Doomwing was apprehensive about this battle, knowing that one way or another it would be his final battle with the Rangers. Second chances were a rare thing with Lord Arcanon, third chances simply didn't happen. He had been left with no uncertainty in his instructions that he would either bring Zenowing back, or he would be left to his fate. Arcanon had no interest in saving him if he could no longer use the Silver Energem.

Arriving in the city, Singe was the one to fire the opening shot, destroying the upper levels of an office building. As the crowd began to scream, running from the area, the Rangers arrived, gathering before them.

"Well, the Blue one is back, but I can't help noticing your numbers are still...lacking." Singe taunted them. "Why don't you spare yourselves the pain of ending up like your friend and hand over your Energems now?"

"If you think we'd do that, you clearly haven't been paying attention." Tyler answered. "We're never going to hand the world over to you!"

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that." Singe scoffed as they all rushed to the attack.

Back on the roof of the museum, Zenowing was still struggling to keep this thoughts on the battle with Doomwing, but he couldn't help seeing images of the Rangers' angered faces, hearing their words as they attacked him following the battle.

"Riley just saved your life!" He could recall the Red Ranger saying in frustration. It wasn't his fault. No one asked Riley to interfere. He hadn't asked this perfect stranger to put himself in danger on his behalf. It was Riley's own decision to get involved in things that didn't concern him.

"This doesn't concern you!" He heard a sinister, raspy voice say. It was a familiar voice, one that had echoed in his mind now for millennia. Mists in his mind started to shift, and form into images, becoming ever clearer.

"I took an oath to defend the defenceless." Zenowing replied. "Stand down, or your evil ends here with your miserable life!"

"My book..."

"Leave it! Your life is..."

"No, you don't understand...there is something powerful in there, something he can never get his hands on!" The stranger pleaded with him. "Please, I must have it!"

Zenowing kept his eyes trained on his opponent as the mists became sharper. He kicked something towards the voice.

"Take it and get as far from this place as you possibly can!" Zenowing announced. "This evil ends here!"

The stranger ran off as fast as his legs would carry him, leaving Zenowing to face the evil creature alone. The mists finally cleared, and he could see the face of Arcanon before him.

"I do not have time for you!" Arcanon screamed, running to get past him. Zenowing lunged for him, lashing out with his sword. It took one of Arcanon's shoulder blades clean off in a single stroke. The evil overlord stared at it in shock, and realised that he was in deep trouble. Zenowing ensured that he was between him and the path the Stranger had taken.

"Your path of destruction ends here." Zenowing warned him. "You will NOT harm any more innocents!"

"What do you care for their lives? Who was there for your planet? Who prevented your order being hunted to the verge of extinction?" Arcanon asked him. "What's in it for you?"

"Doing what's right is not about reward!" Zenowing told him as he prepared to strike. Arcanon powered up a blast, but before it came, Zenowing could feel a strange power coursing through him. He looked to his hand, and saw the Silver Energem glowing.

There had been something bothering him about Riley's behaviour. No one asked Riley to stand in defence of him...just like no one had asked Zenowing to put himself in harms' way for a planet that was not his own. There was no reason for him to help that stranger escape Arcanon. He had nothing to gain from fighting Arcanon that day, indeed it had ended up costing him several millennia as a prisoner of Doomwing's poisoned mind. Or was it his? He had been like the Green Ranger once, why did he find it so difficult to see that?

He got up, and started to make his way back down to the basement.

In the Dino Lab, Matt was still watching over Riley as Kendall did some more tests. Leanne was sitting a little way off, chewing her fingernails nervously. Kendall looked up from the equipment with a grim look on her face. She shook her head sadly.

"I...I honestly don't know what more I can do." Kendall told them both. "Riley's vitals are getting weaker, but...I've done everything I can."

"There has to be..."

"Matt, there's nothing else I can do, I've exhausted ever medical treatment I know of!" Kendall told him. Her heart was breaking to admit this. Although their relationship had ended, she couldn't deny what was in her heart for Matt, or for the Rangers. She would gladly give anything she could to be able to tell him something different. Were it possible, she would remove her own heart and give it up so that Matt wouldn't have to watch his brother slip away. "We could send him to a hospital, but I don't know what they can do that I can't, there's nothing natural..."

"We have...an option." Leanne said softly. Both Matt and Kendall both looked to her.

"Leanne, I told you, there is no science, no natural..."

"What I'm suggesting is neither." Leanne interrupted her. "If science and medicine can't help, and the Energem can't help...maybe...maybe I can."

"You?" Matt asked. "What could you...?"

He paused as Leanne looked to him with tears in her eyes.

"You're talking about...?" He looked dismayed by what she was suggesting.

"Leanne, you can't!" Kendall told her. "We don't know..."

"No, we DON'T know!" Leanne shrieked at her. "But we know if we do nothing we're just going to sit here and watch him die, and I know I for one can't do that if there's anything left I can try!"

"Try?" Matt asked her. "Can you do it or not?"

"I...don't know." Leanne admitted sadly. "There's never a guarantee any time one of my kind tries to grant The Embrace. Sometimes it just doesn't work. I'm immature, and I know that's ill-advised..."

"Immature?" Matt asked her. "You're 16 aren't you?"

"Um...actually...I'm 57." She corrected him. Both Matt and Kendall stared at her. "What? Girls lie about their age all the time!"

"57?" Matt asked her. "That's immature?"

"Most vampires are considered kids until at least their first century." Leanne told them. "I still can't even retract my fangs yet. I'm a Pureblood, so that makes my blood a little more potent, but there are still no guarantees."

"So you want to turn him into..."

"I don't WANT to!" Leanne screamed at him as tears ran down her face. "I'd be accepting responsibility for him, tying us to each other for centuries! Riley hates the fact the Energem's got him trapped as a kid, but at least that can be undone once all this is over. This would be PERMANENT! I don't know if Riley would ever forgive me, but the only thing I can think of that's any worse is letting him die when I might be able to save him, even if he ends up hating me forever!"

Kendall and Matt just looked to each other, and to Riley. Kendall didn't know what to say. She didn't claim to know anything about vampires other than what she had read in bad novels and Leanne had already told them a lot of that was mis-information at best and outright lies at worst. Matt took a deep breath.

"What would you have to do?" He asked her.

"You understand...?"

"Save my brother now." Matt interrupted her. "We can earn his forgiveness later."

Leanne nodded in understanding, before approaching Riley. She laid a hand on his chest, and swept some tears from her eyes with the other.

"I'm sorry Riley." She told him, but before she could lower herself to bite him, Zenowing arrived, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Step aside, I can help." He assured her. Leanne stepped aside at his insistence, at which Zenowing drew his sword. "Riley, you have shown me a generosity of spirit and a courage I once had. I thank you for reminding me who I once was."

Zenowing held his sword above his head in both hands, at which it started to glow. Matt, Kendall and Leanne both watched as he started to lower it to Riley's chest, and folded the Green Rangers' hands over the hilt, holding them.

"Our spirits are linked. I will share with you my ability to fight, as you share with me your courage and generosity of spirit." Zenowing announced. "This is my pledge to you; this is our covenant, my brother!"

There was a flash of light, after which Zenowing retrieved his sword. They all watched as Riley's eyes opened and he started to look around. Kendall inspected all of the devices, seeing Riley's vitals starting to return to normal. Pulling off his dressing, Riley saw that the wound had healed.

"What...what happened?" He asked them. "How did I get here?"

"Questions we shall answer at a later date." Zenowing told him. "In the meantime, I need your help in destroying my other half...if you are willing to help."

Riley offered Zenowing his hand, at which he pulled him up. They both ran out of the Dino Lab. Leanne turned into Kendall, grabbing her and hugging her tightly, weeping into her chest. The Purple Ranger awkwardly held her as she tried her best to comfort her.


	14. Zenowing's Gift

The Rangers' battle with Doomwing, Fury and Singe was escalating into the most brutal and devastating to date. With three of Arcanon's most powerful followers on the field at once, the Rangers were bringing out everything they possibly could to try and thin out the numbers. Unfortunately, their foes were also bringing their A-game to the proceedings.

Phillipe, Koda and Chase all had to run quickly as Singe concentrated his powers, bringing up columns of pressurised magma straight through the pavement, high into the sky.

"Shit, anyone else getting the feeling these guys have been holding back all this time?" Chase asked them.

"An Energem is at stake!" Phillipe reminded him, taking some pot-shots with his Dino Blaster, causing Singe little more than some mild annoyance. "With the final Energem at stake, they can't afford to lose this battle any more than we can!"

"If you'd fought this hard before Fury, I might have been in a little more trouble!" Ivan taunted the feline warrior, who was battling both him and Shelby.

"Doomwing might not be the only one regaining his lost power today!" Fury snarled as he cast them both aside to gain some room. He powered up his blade, ready for the next attack. "Only this time I'll ensure you NEVER escape!"

"Give up the Energem and maybe I won't use you to stuff a pillow!" Tyler said as he fought with Doomwing. He swung his Tyranno Smasher with all his strength, sending blows Doomwing's way as a distraction, but trying to focus his attack on the sword. He knew that the Silver Energem was in Doomwing's sword, and getting it out of his grasp was their top priority. However, it was easier said than done. Even unable to morph, Doomwing was a powerful enemy, and Tyler suspected he was somehow able to channel the power of the Silver Energem through his attacks.

Tyler locked the jaws of his Tyranno Smasher around Doomwing's blade, and started to exert pressure. The two grappled, and Tyler could see scratches starting to appear on its surface. Bringing the blade down towards the ground to anchor it, he increased the pressure, hoping to break the blade. He was concentrating too much on the blade, he didn't notice as Doomwing drew back his head, before pecking into him viciously. Tyler hit the ground and rolled away as his armour disappeared.

"Nice try Red Ranger, but not good enough!" Doomwing shrieked. "DOOM SLASH!"

Tyler could see the energy attack coming straight for him, but before it hit home, someone landed in between them, deflecting the attack, which slammed into a building behind them. The Rangers all looked in amazement at the new arrival.

"RILEY!" Chase called out. "You're...you're alright?"

"I'm great, thanks to Zenowing!" He announced. Zenowing landed beside Riley, drawing his sword.

"You have something of mine Doomwing!" He announced.

"Is this where you offer...?"

"No more offers! I know now that you cannot be allowed to exist!" Doomwing told him. He and Riley rushed forward, taking on Doomwing. "This time, you meet your end!"

Over in Amber Beach hospital, Sarah was sitting up in her bed, stroking the back of her head. The doctors had ascertained that she hadn't done any serious or lasting damage, but she did have one hell of a headache that she doubted was going away any time soon. The cause of her headache wasn't just the fall though.

"Sarah, sweetheart, you got lucky!" Mrs Thompson said for seemingly the hundredth time since she had woken up. "What were you thinking?"

"The guy was vandalising museum property!" Sarah groaned. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You call the police!" Mr Thompson said impatiently. "Or you call security or something like that. Worst case scenario, you just leave him alone!"

"So you think I should just sit back and do nothing while people do bad things?" Sarah asked her parents. "You always told me that I should help people..."

"PEOPLE, not things!" Her father interrupted her. "He was spray-painting a wall for Christ's sake! It's not like anyone's life was in danger!"

"Except maybe yours." Mrs Thompson said to her. "Sarah, you hit your head on concrete! Do you know how many ways that could have ended badly? Have you heard of concussion? Bleeding? Fracture? If you had fallen just a little differently you could have broken your neck!"

"Not to mention you have no idea who that guy was." Mr Thompson chastised his daughter. "He could have had a knife, he could have had a gun, he could have been some kind of lunatic!"

"He's a graffiti artist dad, not a serial killer!" Sarah said as she looked to him. "I REALLY doubt anyone who's going to start shooting up the place is going to stop for a bit of street art before they begin!"

"That's not a chance you should be taking sweetheart." Mrs Thompson said, taking her daughter's hand. "There are people out there trained to deal with..."

"And what if they're not there mom?" Sarah asked her. "When that bus you were on got blasted in that monster attack, it wasn't the police or the fire brigade that got you out..."

"No, it was a Power Ranger! The Pink one!" Her mom told her. "She was..."

"What makes you assume they're trained to deal with stuff like that?" Sarah asked her. "Hell, show me the training school where they teach you to deal with monsters that freeze things, or switch people's bodies, or grant crazy wishes, because if there is one then I'll happily go to it!"

"Sarah, I know you were trying to help, but you put yourself in danger..."

"No more or less than anyone else that helps during a disaster. You've seen the same news reports I have; you've seen ordinary men and women helping people out of flooded homes and storm-hit areas." Sarah told her, squeezing her mom's hand. "You were in this very hospital for a month after that monster attack, and I'm grateful every single day that the Pink Ranger didn't just stand back and do nothing. I figure if I can help someone else...maybe that's just one way I can repay what we owe to her."

"We'll talk more when you get out of here." Mr Thompson replied. "In the meantime, they're insisting you stay tonight at least to make sure you haven't done any damage to that brilliant brain of yours. In the meantime, we have stuff to do."

"Try to get some rest sweetheart." Mrs Thompson sighed, knowing that they were unlikely to be able to get their daughter to change her mind about this issue.

As they left, Sarah just lay back in the bed as the nurse came in.

"Any chance I can have some more aspirin?" She asked.

"I'm sorry Ms Thompson; you only had a dose three hours ago." The nurse told her. "It'll be at least another hour before we can give you any more."

"Wonderful." She grumbled, slumping down into the bedding.

Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers had split off, isolating Doomwing from his comrades. This left Zenowing to fight Doomwing by himself. Even from his battle with Fury, Riley couldn't help noticing the battle, and was in awe of Zenowing.

He was incredible with a sword, using a style unlike anything Riley had ever seen, but somehow he seemed to know it. There as a mystical element to their combat, and both blades were glowing brightly. Every time they connected with anything, a street light, a stone pillar, anything, they sliced right through. If any one of those attacks hit, by all rights it should slice straight through and end the battle, but as they launched up into the air, spinning away from each other, Doomwing managed to get a strike into Zenowing's back. They both plummeted to the ground, Zenowing landing face-first on the ground, while Doomwing managed to land on one knee, his wings folding up behind him.

"You...you know my moves!" Zenowing grunted through his pain. By all logic, Doomwing should have sliced him in half. Riley could only guess that he had channelled the same energy that powered his sword to protect himself at the last moment, but at the cost of one of his wings being crippled.

"Yes, and I've perfected them!" Doomwing taunted him. "But you also forget one thing! I NEVER fight fair!"

Zenowing was blasted towards him, landing in a crumbled heap at Doomwing's feet. Riley could see Arcanon arriving, opening his book. He pulled something out, which was glowing brightly in his hand. He could only assume it was the Dark Energem.

"Hold him!" Arcanon ordered his minion. Doomwing held Zenowing in a tight hold, forcing him to his knees with his hand outstretched. "One touch is all it will take!"

"And this time, you'll NEVER get out!" Doomwing cackled. Riley broke off from Fury, running straight for them.

"You'll never get the Silver Ranger back!" Riley told them, feeling a strange power flaring up inside him. Something came to his mind, something he couldn't explain. His blade started to glow, and he traced a triangular shape in the air.

"Green Prism STRIKE!" He called out, sending the energy blast their way. It hit Arcanon, who took the brunt of it, though the residual damage hit both Zenowing and Doomwing. Arcanon flew screaming far over the horizon and disappearing. Riley just stared at his hands in disbelief, while Zenowing took the opportunity to regain the advantage over Doomwing. Bringing his weapon down overhead with both hands, Doomwing had no option but to hold his sword up to block, which shattered under the attack. Doomwing ended up flat on his back.

"The Silver Energem never bonded to you! It bonded to me!" Zenowing declared as he held out his hand. The Silver Energem flew straight into his hand. "UNLEASH THE POWER!"

Before Doomwing's eyes, Zenowing morphed into the Silver Ranger, standing before Zenowing. Riley came to his side, but Zenowing held a hand across his chest.

"No, Doomwing is my responsibility, my foe to destroy." He told Riley. "Go help your friends! I have a LOT to make up for!"

Riley just nodded his head, before returning to the Rangers' battle. Now that they could concentrate on just two of their opponents, things were going a little better. Ivan loaded three Dino Chargers into his Ptera Sabre as Shelby took Fury down with her Tricera Drill.

"Not this day!" Fury told them, casting a smoke bomb to the ground. By the time the smoke cleared, he was gone. Singe just looked to the Rangers and sneered.

"Doomwing has failed; he is of no further use to Lord Arcanon." He announced. He too threw down a smoke bomb, but as it hit the ground, it went off like a damp squib. He just stared at it. "What...?"

"It looks like this time you have to stay until the song finishes!" Tyler announced as he powered up into his T-Rex Supercharge Mode. The rest of the team lined up behind him as he powered up his final attack. "Dino Supercharge, Final STRIKE!"

Singe attempted to teleport, but somehow his device failed him. He looked up only in time to see the blast coming towards him. He put out his hands, holding it as it slammed home, and being driven back, but managing to hold it. The Rangers dug in, also pushing forward, pushing their powers to their limits.

"Come on guys!" Tyler cried out in pain, feeling the power burning through him, and knowing that all his team mates had to be feeling the exact same pain, but the opportunity was too much to pass up. They were moments away from depriving Arcanon of one of his most powerful generals. Their suits glowed brightly and then disappeared as they forced through the last ounce of their power. Singe couldn't hold on any longer and the blast went through. He fell to his knees, staring at the Rangers.

"But...how? Why?" He asked, before falling face first to the ground and exploding, leaving no remains to re-animate. Tyler looked to the others breathlessly.

"Come on guys!" He panted. "One more to go!"

At the site of his own battle, Zenowing was now just toying with Doomwing, who lurched and lunged at him in desperate, futile attacks. He parried a blow and sliced into his side deeply.

"THAT is for the Greecha System!" He announced, before hacking at him again. "And THAT is for the moons of Titou!"

"He's...he's winning!" Tyler said, sounding impressed. "He's really doing it!"

"Yeah, but...why isn't he just finishing him?" Shelby asked.

"Death of a Thousand Cuts." Ivan told her. "He is punishing Doomwing, making him suffer as he has caused others to suffer."

Doomwing fell to his hands and knees, before looking up at Zenowing.

"Please, you can't do this!" He shrieked. "You know..."

"I know your evil has infected this universe for far too long already!" Zenowing announced. "Silver Prism, Final STRIKE!"

They saw him launch the energy strike at Doomwing, which hit him full on, before surging through him. Doomwing fell to the ground and exploded, leaving nothing of him as he did. Zenowing turned to face the Rangers, who all cheered as he put his sword away.

"Monster Extinct!" He declared as the Rangers all whooped with excitement. However, as they did, they saw that Zenowing didn't seem to share their excitement. Without warning, he fell face-first, straight to the ground. The Rangers all rushed to his side as he de-morphed.

"ZENOWING!" Riley called out as they got to him, turning him over. They all looked on in disgust as they saw his body was oozing blood at an alarming rate from a multitude of wounds.

"Oh my God, we have to get him to Ms Morgan!" Shelby shrieked.

"How did he even get this badly hurt?" Tyler asked. "He was banged up before he morphed but now..."

"These injuries, they are...they're identical to the ones Doomwing had!" Ivan said as a horrible thought dawned on him. Zenowing held up a hand.

"Do not waste your efforts on me, my fate is already sealed." Zenowing told them. They all looked to him alarmed. "We were connected, even after you managed to split us apart."

Riley's mind thought back to them bringing Zenowing to the lab. He was bleeding from an injury to his arm, just where Chase had shot Doomwing as he escaped.

"Anything that happened to him was going to happen to you." Riley gasped. "And...you knew this?"

"I did, but my sacrifice is worth it to atone for all that Doomwing has done." Zenowing told them, his breathing becoming weaker. He handed his Energem to Riley. "You reminded me of what I was, of the good I had sworn to do. It is for that reason I know that you will find another worthy of bearing my Energem."

With that, Zenowing took one last, deep breath, and fell still.

Over on Arcanon's ship, Arcanon arrived back in a rage over the days' events. Monsters cowered and wilfully fled to their cells, fearing for their lives. When he got to the lab, Wrench and Fury were waiting, with Snide held in chains in the centre of the room. When Arcanon arrived, he overturned a table, scattering tools everywhere.

"How could this HAPPEN?" He screamed at them, causing them both to back up. "How could we have been defeated like this?"

"The Rangers..."

"The Rangers are mere CHILDREN!" He screamed at them angrily. "Doomwing was a fool! His only value to me was the Silver Ranger! Losing him was no great loss, but now we've also lost Singe and the Silver Energem?"

"Lord Arcanon, there was nothing more we could do!" Fury pleaded with him. "Doomwing's incompetence..."

"Doomwing's incompetence I can do without, but it seems Singe was one of the few competent Generals I still had!" He interrupted Fury. He looked to Wrench. "Is the device ready?"

"Its almost finished, I just have a few more adjustments to make." Wrench told him. "I think I've even figured out a way to separate them completely! Once they're separated, you'll have no need of Heckyl!"

"It looks like there's a promotion in the works for you before you even sign on Snide!" Arcanon told the alien as he came face-to-face with him. "Let me know as soon as the device is ready to activate!"

As he left the room, Wrench went back to work. Snide looked to Fury and Wrench.

"I hope your split device works better than your escape device did for Singe." Snide stated. Wrench just turned towards him.

"Yes, it was such a shame it malfunctioned wasn't it?" He responded innocently.

Over at the Dino Lab, the Rangers were all gathered in the lab, around Zenowing's body.

"I can't believe he knew that destroying Doomwing would destroy him too and he fought him anyway." Shelby murmured. Riley put his arm around Leanne.

"That must be why he wanted to face Doomwing himself." Riley surmised. "He knew he would die, so he wanted to make sure none of us would be to blame."

"It is a noble sacrifice indeed." Ivan said, eliciting nods of agreement from the others. "He was truly a worthy Ranger."

"I wish we could have gotten more of a chance to know him." Tyler stated. "I mean, before all of this."

"I think he showed all of us that guy in the end." Chase added. Riley got up and headed over to Zenowing's body.

"I wanted to thank you for healing me, and...for somehow teaching me that awesome Prism Slash move." Riley stated, laying Zenowing's sword on his chest and folding his hands over them. "I guess the best way to pay you back is to use what you gave me for the good of others."

Koda's phone started ringing, breaking the mood. He looked to it, and then to the others apologetically.

"That hospital. Alessandra out of surgery." He told them. Kendall just patted him on the shoulder.

"We understand Koda, go and be with her." Kendall told him. Koda left the base, at which the others stood around, continuing to take stock of the days' events. Matt looked to them.

"Well, the good news is that there's been a couple of big wins today." He stated. "You were trying to take out Doomwing and get back the Silver Energem, but you also took out Singe! Arcanon's now down TWO of his most powerful followers!"

"That's true." Kendall answered, moving closer to him. "But that still leaves the complication. We now have the Silver Energem..."

"...But no Silver Ranger." Chase concluded, looking to Zenowing sadly. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, the first thing we should do is bury Zenowing." Tyler stated. "He deserves that much at least."

"There's a good spot down this cavern here." Kendall told them. "He won't be disturbed there."

With that, Phillipe, Ivan, Chase, Riley, Tyler and Shelby all gathered around Zenowing, acting as pallbearers to carry the brave Paladin to his final resting place.


	15. Double Take

Following Zenowing's sacrifice, the Rangers were thankful for a little bit of respite from Arcanon. They hadn't known Zenowing for long, and in most of that time his demeanour had been rather cold and aloof to say the least, in his final hours he had shown them all the warrior that Keeper hat told them about, and knew why the Silver Energem had chosen him as a worthy bearer of its power.

The battle was devastating for Arcanon as well though. While he still held the Dark Energem, in a single day, he had lost Doomwing and Singe, two of his most powerful generals. They were the only ones that had been by his side when he arrived on Earth. As far as the Rangers knew, they were the only followers he had that weren't prisoners that Sledge had brought to Earth. That had to complicate matters for Arcanon, and it was clear that he had to re-think how he proceeded.

This meant the team had a few days to regroup themselves. In the Dino Lab, Kendall was sitting by a computer, with a mountain of books all around her. She had reached something of a stalling point in her PhD thesis, and was awaiting studies and verifications coming back from the University about her artefacts, but she had already written the bulk of it.

One of the most frustrating parts about academics wasn't the writing or the experiments, or even the formulation of ideas. Those were all the easy parts. The worst part was that in order to be accepted as anything more credible than the average internet blogger or Wikipedia article, things needed to be backed up. Tested and retested and retested by multiple sources. It could take weeks, or it could take months depending on the workload of the experts they were waiting for testimonials from. Fortunately her discoveries had caused such a stir that people were pretty much dropping everything and fighting tooth and nail to be connected to the discovery of the decade, if not the century, but it still meant it would be a while before she could publish.

However, since she was still barred from the museum, she still had no other commitments, and so she had dedicated her time to solving their latest problem. They now had the Silver Energem, but no Silver Ranger. She did still have a lot of her research and systems in place from when she had been searching for a new Purple Ranger candidate. No one really knew what the Energems looked for in their chosen bearers, but the one common thread was that they looked for selflessness and heroism. However what each Energem looked for individually was still largely a mystery. No one really knew why the Pink Energem had rejected Kendall, but the Purple Energem hadn't for instance, meaning that she couldn't even rule out those that had been considered but ultimately unsuccessful for other Energems.

She looked up with a start as a coffee appeared before her. She was concentrating so much that she didn't notice someone else coming in. It was Matt.

"Maybe the coffee's a bad idea if you're this jumpy." He joked as he sat down near her. Kendall just smiled and took it from him as he sat down.

"I could probably cut back a little, but right now, I'd hook the coffee machine straight up to my veins if Allison would let me." She chuckled. "I know I work crazy hours anyway, but I almost forgot how exhausting academics could be."

"So, this is how you look for potential Power Rangers is it?" He asked her, looking to the computers. Kendall just nodded.

"I created an algorithm that searches news stories from all reputable web sites, blogs, broadcast television and radio channels and news papers for a combination of factors." Kendall told him. "We're looking for heroic acts where people put themselves at risk and seek no reward, along with a proximity to the city of 150 miles."

"150 miles?" Matt asked her. "That's kind of broad isn't it?"

"Phillipe comes from Zandar and Chase and Albert were both from New Zealand." She reminded him. "I only limited to 150 miles because it'll be quicker to find eligible candidates. I might have to expand the range though if we still don't find anyone."

"How many matches have you found?" He asked her.

"12,386...in Amber Beach alone." Kendall told him. Matt almost fell off his chair. She just shrugged. "When you live in a war zone there's plenty of opportunities for heroics."

"I guess that's true." He answered, seeing the Silver Energem sitting on the crystal beds a little way from them. He got up and made his way over. "So this is the key to you having power of all..."

"MATT DON'T!" She shrieked, causing him to stop. "Unbonded Energems are not friendly creatures remember? I told you all about that time I ended up in the hospital because of the Pink Energem?"

"But you were able to carry around the Purple..."

"Albert forfeited the Purple Energem, but it still had a living bearer. Zenowing's dead." Kendall reminded him. "That means..."

"Right, sorry." Matt answered as he pulled his hand back. "I want to keep my hand, keep it to myself, got it."

He came over, pulling up a chair and sitting with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'm helping." He replied.

"But...I thought you were going home." She said to him, gulping a little. Matt could see the hesitance in her face and sighed.

"OK, I guess we're talking about this." He stated. "Kendall, you know how I feel. That's not going to go away any time soon, and I know I've been...well...not helpful at all in the way I've behaved lately. That was the reason I was thinking of leaving, but with everything going on, I figure, maybe you could use some help."

"You want to help?" She asked him.

"That's all, I swear." He told her. "I can...read...and I've been told I can order a mean pizza."

"Thank you." Kendall said with a smile. Matt crossed his feet up on the desk and picked up a tablet, researching the first name.

"Here, we've got a police officer, former marine, multiple tours, commendation...oh...and currently under administrative leave pending an investigation for massive corruption." Matt sighed, before looking to her. "Hard pass?"

"Hard pass." She agreed, at which he swiped right.

Meanwhile, up in the museum, the Rangers were also taking advantage of the spare time to take care of some business that otherwise would probably have had to be allowed to slip through the cracks. Without any indication of where Arcanon was or a new Silver Ranger, they could take care of a little bit of revenge.

Sarah was a friend, and had helped them a few times during the short time she'd been with them, and so they were all furious about the fact she had been injured trying to apprehend the graffiti artist who had been striking the museum now for months. His graffiti had been annoying for them, particularly for those of them that had to clean it up, but other than that, a little paint on a wall was really low on their list of priorities with the planet in danger. Now that he had hurt Sarah though, he had made it personal.

Koda was at Alessandra's apartment, helping her while she recovered from her knee surgery, while Phillipe had his duties to attend to at the Embassy, leaving Ivan, Riley, Shelby, Chase and Tyler to cover their little revenge mission.

Riley had set up a crate for them all to hide in, and was busy drilling out some eye holes while the others were relaxing, waiting on their moment to strike. Ivan was recanting a story for them to pass some time.

"So, after the restaurant, Erin invited me back to her place for coffee." Ivan said with a little smile. "And she didn't have a coffee maker if you catch my drift."

"Dude, nice one!" Chase said, high-fiving him, while Shelby just rolled her eyes.

"Ivan, how many times do I have to tell you?" Shelby asked him. "Erin's my best friend, and I really don't want to hear about you and her getting all...caught up in bedroom gymnastics!"

"Exactly, she's a friend; I would have thought you'd be pleased she was with someone you knew instead of some low-life." Ivan stated.

"Yeah, but...I really DON'T need the details!" She yelped.

"Guys, can you keep it down?" Riley asked. "We don't want to scare this guy off again!"

"I just don't see why you're so prudish about it." Ivan said with a shrug. "I mean, are you telling me that you and Tyler don't talk about your relations?"

"What we do or don't do is private!" Shelby told him. "God, I know you're from the twelfth century, but did guys in your day really just spend all day talking about the girls they were banging?"

"It was a prominent topic of conversation." He said, with no hint of irony in his voice. "Gentlemen were meant to sow some wild oats before they found a fine lady to settle down with."

"So what's Erin? Is she a fine lady or just a wild oat to you?" Shelby asked. "On second thought...don't answer that. I just hope you used protection!"

"Protection?" He asked. "I think what we were doing would have been a little difficult wearing armour."

"Dude, seriously?" Tyler said, somewhat disapprovingly.

"He means condoms mate." Chase replied. Ivan just stared blankly at him. "You do know what we're talking about right?"

"No, I don't." Ivan answered. "Is this some modern thing that hasn't been explained to me?"

"Guys, settle down!" Riley whispered. "I see someone!"

"Remind me to explain safe sex to you later." Chase told him.

"A few lessons on discretion might be in order as well." Shelby grumbled. Riley looked out through the eye holes, watching the figure in the loading area put down a bag. He pulled out a can and started shaking it with a distinctive rattle, looking up at the design that the Rangers had purposefully left untouched. They figured it might tempt him out if his design was still sitting unfinished.

"Alright guys, that's him!" Riley said. "OK, one, two, THREE!"

The Rangers burst down the side of the crate, causing the vandal to turn around in alarm. He quickly realised he had been set up! He ran towards the crates, starting to hop up them.

"He's rabbiting again!" Tyler called out. "Chase, get him!"

"No you don't mate!" Chase called out, leaping onto the crates nimbly. The vandal seemed to be startled by how quickly he could get up to cut him off, and changed direction. This time he was heading for the fence, only for Tyler to be in his way.

"Not this time!" Tyler told him. He turned to head into the museum, but Shelby was cutting him off. He started to back up as they started to close in on him, holding up his hands. He tossed the can to the ground.

"Come on guys, this isn't a big deal." The vandal started to protest. "It's just a little paint."

"Not a big deal?" Shelby asked him. "That girl you tossed off the fence nearly broke her neck!"

"That was an accident, I swear!" The Vandal stammered out, backing up further. "I didn't want her to get hurt, but she was crazy! She was trying to pull me over the fence; I was going to come down on my head! I just...I didn't mean for her to get hurt!"

"You shoved her off a twelve foot fence onto concrete, what did you think was going to happen?" Riley asked him impatiently. The vandal turned and made one more break for it, trying to scramble up the fence, but Ivan caught him by the scruff of the neck and the seat of the pants and spun him around, lifting him off the ground and slamming him down onto the concrete. He turned the vandal over and straddled him, pinning him to the ground.

"Hey, get off me!" He yelled.

"I'll let you up once the police arrive!" Ivan told him, reaching for the scarf covering his face. "Now, let's see your face varlet!"

The vandal could do nothing as Ivan ripped off his scarf and pulled off his hood and ball cap. However, once he did, all the Rangers fell completely silent. They just stared in complete shock at what they were seeing.

"Whoa!" Tyler breathed as he stared at the vandal. Ivan got off him, getting up slowly, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

"You...you're...you're me?" He stammered, completely at a loss for anything else to say. The vandal didn't take the opportunity to run away, it looked like he got just as much of a shock seeing Ivan up close for the first time as Ivan did. "Egad!"

"They're...identical?" Riley asked, pointing between the vandal and Ivan.

"It's...uncanny!" Ivan said as he walked around the vandal, still struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. This kid was virtually identical, even having a similar height and build to him.

"You mean creepy." The vandal scoffed. "Can I go now?"

"I...don't think so mate." Chase told him, clamping a hand down on his shoulder hard. "There's still the small matter of this graffiti that needs to be covered up."

"Uh...yeah, the paint!" Riley said, catching a nod from Chase. "Listen, what's your name kid?"

"Zack." He replied with a little smirk.

"Well then Zack, how about you paint over all of this?" Riley asked him. "It's either that or we call the cops, it's your choice."

"OK, OK." Zack groaned. Chase grabbed him and started dragging him inside.

"This way mate." He told him. "I think I have a nice roller with your name on it."

As he took Zack away to get him some equipment, Tyler, Shelby and Riley all gathered together.

"What do you think?" Tyler asked. "You think it's a clone or something?"

"I wouldn't put it past Heckyl to do something like that, but...Arcanon? It doesn't seem like his style." Shelby said.

"Maybe we should run a few tests, make sure he's not a monster." Tyler suggested. "Until we can be sure, we should keep an eye on him."

Riley picked up Zack's scarf and handed it to Shelby.

"I'll keep an eye on him, take this to the lab." Riley told her. "It'll have his spit, his hair, skin...we should be able to run some DNA from it, at least verify if he's human."

As Shelby left, they noticed Ivan staring into space, completely silent, still in shock at what he had seen. Tyler approached him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ivan." He said, trying to bring the Gold Ranger's thoughts back to the present. "Dude, it's freaky right? I know I could use a slushie after that."

Ivan just nodded wordlessly, and followed them inside.

Down in the Dino Lab, Kendall and Matt were still working, looking through files, trying to narrow down a shortlist of candidates to try and find. Matt smiled when one name came up on his list.

"Hey, how about this one?" He asked, showing it to Kendall. She just rolled her eyes.

"Really?" She asked him.

"You said it yourself, just because a person isn't suited for one Energem doesn't make them unsuited for another." He reminded her. "Margaret's got military training; she's brave as all hell..."

"She's also still sick." Kendall reminded him.

"Hey, I know about the amputation, but what about Corsair Red? The one-legged Ranger thing's been done before." He reasoned with her. "She's working on getting around on her prosthetic, and you don't know, maybe it'll help with her illness."

"We don't know how it'll react to cancer." Kendall told him flatly.

"It might make her better..."

"Energems also help counteract toxins!" Kendall reminded him. "She's going through chemotherapy! It works by systematically poisoning the cancer cells. What if the Energem purges the treatment from her system faster than we can replace it?"

"I guess it's not worth the gamble." He agreed with a deep breath, swiping Margaret's name off the list. Another computer bleeped and she went to it. "What's that?"

"That is a message I've been waiting on." She said as she grinned brightly, opening up the file and reading through it quickly.

"Silver Ranger?" He asked.

"No, it's testimonials from five of the world's most prominent paleontological experts verifying my work!" She told him, beginning to type frantically and switching between windows on her screen. "This is literally the last thing I needed...once I've got this attached..."

She ran a quick spell-check and backed away from her computer, grinning brightly. Matt could swear he could see her practically bouncing with excitement.

"That's..."

"My PhD thesis." She told him. "If I send this off, it just has to go to a board for approval and grading, and if it gets approved and they grade it and they like it...wait...what if they don't like it? What if I've messed up something? What if they think I'm just writing something to be revolutionary...?"

"Kendall, calm down and breathe!" He told her, grabbing her shoulders. "You've said it yourself; this project has had some of the world's greatest minds poring over it! They wouldn't be so interested if they thought it was just some quack!"

"But..."

"For the love of God, will you please just have confidence in yourself and send the damn thing?" He asked her. Kendall just took a deep breath and turned towards the computer, reaching out for the send button. She paused, thinking about what she was about to do. She was sending her work to be scrutinised and picked apart by her peers to determine whether or not they thought her worthy of the title of Doctor. Her heart was racing, and even though her finger was only an inch from the button that could change her life, every muscle in her body tensed up and she couldn't move. Her mouth was dry, and she found it hard to breathe. Then, the screen flashed up a message.

"Sent!" Matt told her. Kendall turned towards him, her eyes wide in alarm.

"What did you do?" She asked him.

"I...helped?" He offered, starting to back away. Kendall looked to the screen once more, but it was too late to call back. Now, the university had her submission. She looked to Matt once more, and smiled.

"Thank you!" She said, at which she started to close in for a hug, just as he reached out for a handshake. They backed up, and tried again, this time reversing roles, before she just cleared her throat.

"Um...thank you." She said. "Cappuccino to celebrate?"

"Mocha." He responded, at which Kendall headed for the elevator with a little skip in her step. Matt sat back down, and returned to the search programme, looking for more names for their list of potential Silver Rangers. "Told you I was here to help."


	16. Wild Oats

In her motel room, Alessandra was sitting up on her bed, her leg still heavily strapped up following the surgery. The treatment had been a complete success, but since Alessandra didn't have insurance, she had paid up front for the surgery and really couldn't afford to stay in the hospital during her recovery, meaning she didn't have much option but to return to the motel.

Koda wasn't happy with this arrangement at all. Her motel wasn't exactly an ideal living space at the best of times. It certainly was no substitute for a hospital, but as long as she got plenty of rest and didn't push herself until she was fit to get back to training, she would be able to recover. Koda was determined to help her as much as he could, but it didn't do much to alleviate her mood. She was an active person, so being unable to leave her bed was quickly making her a little stir crazy.

"Why people so stupid?" She asked as Koda came back to the room. "This man try to sue girlfriend to get engagement ring back."

"Judge Judy fun show, it full of stupid people!" Koda said with a smile as he placed down a couple of pillows, packing them around Alessandra's injured leg. She just stared at him.

"More pillows?" She asked. "I not only guest in motel, others want pillows too."

"Others not have knee surgery." Koda said as he went to get her a drink. Alessandra just held up a hand.

"I no need drink." She told him. Koda put the soda down on the side board and came to her side.

"How leg?" He asked her. "You hurt? I get...?"

"I fine Koda." She assured him. He paused as he thought for a moment.

"You hungry?" He asked her.

"No, Koda, I no hungry, I no thirsty, I..." She just sighed. "Just sit with me?"

Koda was only too happy to comply with that request. He gently and carefully crawled into the bed beside her, putting his arms around her. Alessandra smiled as he did, she loved being in his arms. It was one of the best medicines she could think of. When he was with her, the thought of spending a couple of months in his arms while she recovered enough to return didn't seem quite so bad.

They were both disturbed only by a knock on the door. Koda got up from the bed and headed to the door, opening it to find Carl standing outside. He was holding a large, brown bag.

"Carl!" Alessandra called out, waving him to come in. "Carl, you here!"

"Of course I'm here! You didn't think I wouldn't visit my biggest star and see how she's doing did you?" He asked her. He handed her the bag, which she opened, finding a bunch of grapes inside. "Yeah, I...didn't really think you were the flowers kind of girl."

"I love, thank you Carl!" She told him. He looked across to Koda, and signalled to him.

"Now, you are a hard man to get hold of." Carl told him. "Mind if I have a word with your man for a minute?"

"You want speak me?" Koda asked him. Carl just gestured him outside, at which Koda looked to Alessandra. She just nodded to indicate he should go. Koda followed Carl outside, where he looked to him.

"What you want talk about?" Koda asked him. Carl started pacing.

"Koda, do you have anything to do tonight?" He asked him. Koda just looked a little hesitant, looking to the door of Alessandra's room, but he could see that Carl was eager to speak.

"What you want?" He asked.

"It's time." Carl told him, pointing to his car. "Get in."

"What?" Koda asked. "Where we go?"

"It's a long drive to Reefside." He told him. Koda just looked confused. Carl smiled as he opened the door, gesturing to him to get in. "It's time for your comeback!"

"I...I need talk Alessandra." Koda told him.

"Well, don't take too long about it." Carl told him, leaning against the car. "I wasn't kidding about the long drive to Reefside."

Meanwhile, at the museum, Ivan was sitting, keeping an eye on Zack as he was busy painting over his graffiti. The young man mopped his brow of sweat, complaining about the heat from the midday sun, but his complaint fell on deaf ears. Ivan wasn't listening to his complaints. All he could do was stare at him.

He still couldn't bring himself to believe how much Zack looked like him. It wasn't as though it was a passing resemblance, they were pretty much identical. Only his dress sense and his hair style was different. Since Ivan had laid eyes on him, he had felt something stirring in him, something deep in his gut that unsettled him about this stranger. He didn't even register as the Green Ranger approached them, coming up behind him.

"So, how goes it?" Riley asked. Ivan didn't answer at first, seeming to be in a world of his own. Riley nudged him to catch his attention. "Yo, Ivan. How's it going?"

"Well, he doesn't seem to be as happy taking it off as he was putting it on." Ivan told him. Riley just looked up.

"No wonder, it's scorching out here." Riley stated.

"Well, I brought you a drink." Riley announced, showing a green slushie.

"Ah, thank you I'm parched!" Ivan said, but he was disappointed when Riley went over to Zack. "You're helping him?"

"Lighten up Ivan, everyone makes mistakes!" Riley said to him.

"This miscreant defaced..."

"Do I need to remind you why you can't go into the First Bank of Amber Beach?" Riley asked him. Ivan looked rather indignant as he heard this and got up; storming away a few feet to sulk, but he kept his eyes on Zack. Riley gave Zack the drink.

"MMM, great, lime's my favourite." He stated. Riley just nodded.

"Yeah, mine too." Riley answered.

"You know, this kind of painting is hard work." Zack commented. Riley just sighed.

"Yeah, I know, I've been doing it for months." Riley told him. Zack just looked a little sheepish hearing this. He never actually thought about whoever had to clean up after one of his projects.

"That girl, the one that I...um...the one I pushed." Zack asked, looking more than a little guilty. "Is she OK?"

"She had a pretty bad headache and she missed a bunch of work, but she should be back this week." Riley told him. Zack started shifting a little uncomfortably hearing this.

"Yeah, I...um...I really didn't mean for that to happen." Zack said apologetically. "If you see her, would you tell her I'm sorry?"

"Maybe you can tell her yourself." Riley suggested. Zack didn't look to be too convinced by this suggestion. He really wasn't intending to stick around once he had done enough to convince them not to call the cops on him. He had done similar work all over the city, and he was sure that even the Amber Beach Police Department would take a dim view of the guy that was responsible for about twenty five percent of all the graffiti in the city. He noticed Shelby coming out, looking for him and waving him over. "Say Zack, why don't you take a break for a couple of minutes?"

"Are you sure the warden will like that?" He asked, pointing to Ivan, who still couldn't take his eyes off him. Riley just gestured to him to take a seat.

"Tell you what, you promise not to try and run again and I won't sic him on you, deal?" Riley asked him. Zack just nodded in agreement and took a seat to continue with his drink. Riley made his way over to Shelby, who was holding a sheet of paper in her hand. He gestured Ivan over too.

"What's the deal?" Riley asked her. "Is he human?"

"If he was a monster, do you really think I wouldn't bring the others as well?" She asked him. "Yeah, he's human alright."

"Then what's the problem?" Riley asked her. "Once he finishes up, we'll just tell him not to come back and then we'll send him on his way."

"The issue is this!" She told him, giving the sheet to Ivan. He stared at it blankly for a moment. It may as well have been written in Esperanto for all the sense it made to him. Riley crowded in close to look at the report as well.

"What am I looking at?" He asked her.

"Look at his genetic makeup!" She told him. Riley looked at it closely, checking the readout. It was possible in this modern era to track certain genetic markers that highlighted particular areas of heritage, even many generations past. It was used by many web sites as much for entertainment purposes as for those genuinely seeking their history. Riley saw something on the readout that he was sure Shelby was referring to.

"Hey, Zack!" Riley called out, making his way over to him. The teenager looked up to him. "I couldn't help noticing you have a bit of an accent...are you from Europe?"

"Yeah, I am." He answered. Riley realised he'd have to coax a little more from him. He had a feeling Zack was used to keeping answers short and to the point, probably having had some run ins with the police before.

"Where?" Riley asked. "Monaco? Spain? Switzerland?"

"You ever heard of Zandar?" He asked. Riley just looked to Shelby and Ivan, before looking back to Zack.

"Yeah, we've heard of it." Riley told him. "Um...I'll...let you get back to this."

He went into Zack's jacket and pulled out his wallet, showing it to him.

"We'll hold onto this until you're finished." Riley told him. "If you decide to wander off, we might just be helpful and return it to your mom...after explaining how it got to the museum of course."

"OK, OK, message received loud and clear." Zack muttered as he got back to work. Riley went back to where Shelby and Ivan were waiting.

"He confirmed it." Riley told them. "He's from Zandar originally. He probably emigrated here recently."

"I...I don't understand." Ivan stammered. "He's from Zandar, and he looks like me...are you seriously suggesting...?"

"Ivan, genetic markers don't lie. When I saw the markers I cross-referenced it with your DNA." Shelby told him. "It says he's related to you."

Ivan looked more than a little ill at the thought of this, and stormed into the cafe. Riley and Shelby followed him closely, leaving Zack to continue re-painting the museum wall in the hopes that they wouldn't call the cops.

Koda and Carl arrived in Amber Beach, at which Carl took Koda into the building. Koda was greeted by a few of the guys who were happy to see him back. While he wasn't really injured, for the sake of the storyline, Carl had insisted that Koda miss a couple of shows in order to sell the attack after Jack dissolved their tag team. Once they were in the back, Carl looked around.

"Where the fuck is Jack?" He demanded. One of the guys just looked to him cautiously.

"He's going through his 'pre-show ritual'." He told him, shaking a pill bottle. Jack had been working hard lately, as champion; a lot of pressure was on him to top the bill everywhere they went. It did mean that he was pushing himself far harder than usual, and Jack was always known to be a perfectionist in the ring, putting on the best execution even at the cost of his own body. Carl nodded in understanding, before turning to Koda.

"Alright, Jack's been stoking the fires all over the place. He's built up real heat; I mean he is the absolute super-nova of white hot..."

"No need to oversell it Carl." Jack said in his usual husky tone, lighting up a cigarette as he came over and slapped Koda on the shoulder. "Hey there kid, great to see you!"

"You too Jack." Koda answered. "Alessandra say, thank you for protect her in last match."

"I'm just glad that last tendon of hers didn't go pop." He answered honestly, taking a swig from his hip flask. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a promo to prepare! I'll see you out there kid!"

"Promo?" Koda asked. "Jack no wrestle?"

"Not tonight Koda, tonight, he's just here to set up his next big feud." Carl told him with a smile. "Congratulations kid, you just made the upper card!"

Back at the museum, Ivan was sitting in the Dino Bite Cafe, while the others gathered around him. Shelby had given them all a basic run down of what she had found in her DNA test. None of them really knew what to say about the fact that Ivan had now met what it looked like might be one of his descendents. Allison finally spoke up.

"Well...Zandar's a pretty small place." She reminded them. "Isn't anyone that's there more than a few generations technically related to pretty much everyone?"

"I still don't understand how this is possible." Ivan commented. "You say that there are markers, but...they are small traces are they not?"

"Ivan, they're always going to be small traces, especially after 800 years, that's about thirty or so generations, but...the traces are too high for it to be likely that it's down to chance." Shelby said, inspecting the report carefully. "I'd say I'm pretty confident Zack is related to you."

"But...how?" Ivan asked. "I never married, I was never even betrothed!"

"Well...maybe one of your brothers or sisters..."

"I had no siblings." Ivan interrupted Riley. "My mother died just days after I was born. My father had a rather unfortunate encounter with a boar while hunting." Ivan informed them. "I was the last of my bloodline."

"Yikes!" Riley responded, sucking his teeth. He knew that boars were dangerous animals, and while hunting them was pretty common back then, and bows made hunting them a lot safer, he also knew that didn't mean there wasn't a potential for it to go disastrously and painfully wrong!

"Well, apparently you're not the last if this is anything to go by." Tyler stated, looking aside. "Um...you said you weren't married, but...you know you don't have to be married to have kids right?"

"Of course not, many of my comrades had bastards." Ivan said.

"Dude!" Allison said, a look of disgust crossing her face.

"Prince George had about twelve, many of them served in the house guard." Ivan said matter of factly. It was only then that he noticed some rather disapproving glares from the others. "What?"

"We generally don't call them bastards now." Chase told him. "It's not seen as the best thing to make a distinction between kids born out of wedlock and kids that are. Mom missed that deadline with me by about a month and a half and no one ever said anything to me about it."

"Is that this political correctness thing people keep talking about?" Ivan asked them.

"No, it's about not singling a kid out for something they literally had no part in and was entirely down to the parents' choices." Tyler said in response. Ivan could tell from the general feeling from the others that he had unintentionally stepped across a line.

"Ivan...I hate to bring this up but...you did say something about 'sowing some wild oats' earlier." Shelby said, looking a little uncomfortable at the thought of it. Ivan started to look decidedly ill.

"I...I...I need some air." Ivan said, getting up from the table and heading out the lab. None of the team really knew what to say about his reaction, but for now it looked like Ivan needed some time on his own with his thoughts.

"I'll just go check on Zack; he should be almost finished by now." Riley told them. "We should probably let him go home before his parents think he's been kidnapped."

Riley arrived up at the back yard, finding Zack nursing an aching shoulder, but nonetheless having completed his task.

"Not bad Zack, you did a pretty good job." Riley told him, inspecting his work.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'll be doing much painting for a while." Zack grumbled. "My arm feels like it's about to fall off."

"You know, some of your stuff is really good." Riley told him, considering his work.

"Yeah, I get a lot of practice." Zack told him. Riley just looked at him.

"Yeah, by messing up other people's stuff!" Riley told him. "Maybe if instead of other people's walls you tried...I don't know...using paper or something?"

"Paper costs money you know." Zack said with a smirk. Riley just glared at him, but he could see he wasn't nearly as good at it as Kendall. He picked up Zack's bag.

"Well so does spray paint! What does that set you back, about five dollars a can? How many cans do you use on average? Oh, and how many did you leave behind when you ran away last time?" Riley asked him. Zack looked taken aback.

"I...hadn't really thought about it like that." He admitted.

"The reason this pisses people off so much is because you don't have permission to do it." Riley told him. "Maybe if people could see your work in a way that DIDN'T deface their property, they might ask you to do some work for them. Some might even be willing to pay for it!"

"You...you really think so?" Zack asked him.

"One of Shelby's friends Julian is an artist. He started doing fliers and posters for wrestling shows." Riley informed him. "Now he's touring Europe selling his work!"

"Wow...I...I might just think about that." Zack said as he reached for his bag. Riley moved it out of his reach, but handed him back his wallet.

"I'll hang onto this." Riley said to him as he bobbed the bag up and down. "Until you come back tomorrow..."

"Aw come on man, do you know how much that cost?" Zack whined.

"Hey, if you come back tomorrow and do a second coat, maybe we'll talk about you getting this back." Riley told him. Zack just muttered something under his breath and nodded, before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away. Riley took the bag inside with him. He really didn't need or want Zack to come back to do any more painting, but he figured that if he just went on his way now, they'd never get down to the truth of the matter whether or not he really was related to Ivan. Besides, he couldn't understand why, but he had taken a liking to Zack, and he wondered if maybe he could do something with his talents other than pissing off property owners.


	17. A Long Day's Night

Things were starting to quieten down in the cafe, and there were hardly any stragglers left. Just a couple of old ladies that always came in for a pot of tea and some cupcakes on pension day and stayed until closing time, and a group of college kids that they suspected just nursed the one cappuccino they had bought for as long as possible until their weed dealer deigned to grace him with his presence. Leanne just sighed as she came back to the counter after her usual customary sweep every few minutes to see if the tables needed anything.

"God, this is why I hate this time of week." She muttered, looking over to the college table. "Think if we told them there are places they could get their weed legally now they would leave and we could get out of here?"

"We'd still have to wait on Cybill and Agnes." Allison chuckled, reminding her of their older customers. "Smoothie?"

"Strawberry." Leanne told her. "Thanks."

"Girls, there you are!" Flash called out as he walked into the cafe. Allison just rolled her eyes.

"Finding the restaurant supervisor and a waitress in the restaurant." Allison responded sarcastically. "Yeah, who'd have thought it?"

"You know, I'm so excited that even your negativity isn't going to get to me my little wallaby!" Flash said, slapping Allison hard on the rump, giving her a start. "I think I've finally got all the bugs figured out with Worg!"

"Great." Allison stated, rubbing her backside as Leanne just glared at Flash, wondering how exactly he came to the conclusion that this was in any way an appropriate way to treat his staff. "Now, why don't you lovely ladies come with me and see the finished result?"

"Um...we still have customers..."

"Please, you've got some stoners waiting on their brownie guy and a couple of coffin dodgers that bought ten dollars worth of goods an hour ago." He said, waving it off. "Come with me..."

"Hey, Leanne." Riley said, coming into the cafe. "Are you finished here? I was thinking we could head out..."

"YES!" Leanne rushed out, grabbing Riley's arm tightly, a little too tightly given the Green Ranger's expression. "Um...Sorry Flash, but...we made plans! We were going to...um...yeah; sorry would love to see Worg, but maybe tomorrow?"

"Definitely, the grand unveiling is tomorrow!" He told her, clicking his fingers and making a gun gesture at the pair. "Wherever you're taking her Riley, make it good, because tomorrow is a day you're going to remember for the rest of your lives!"

As they turned and left, Leanne pulled in closely.

"Thank you SO much for that!" She whispered. "Anything I can do to repay you?"

"I was actually taking you out to repay you." Riley said, looking uncomfortable. "But...letting me get some feeling back in my arm would be nice."

"Sorry." She answered, loosening her grip a little. As she saw them go, Allison felt somewhat like a prisoner on Death Row watching another inmate who had just been granted a pardon leaving their cell. She sighed.

"Thanks a lot Leanne." She muttered under her breath. Flash put his arm around her.

"Now, come with me, you get the privilege of an exclusive audience with the new and improved Worg." He declared.

"I can't wait." She answered as she got walked down her own 'Green Mile'.

Elsewhere in the city, Ivan was wandering around in a bit of a daze, considering the day's events. Ever since he had laid eyes on Zack, he couldn't explain it, but he had felt something inside him, kind of in his chest even before Riley and Shelby had showed him the result of the tests they had done, that there was a connection to this young man.

He knew that there was a chance that there could be a familiarity between them without any kind of family tie. He had seen numerous examples of 'look-alikes' in pictures on the internet. There were people who made whole careers based on nothing more than the fact they looked like someone else that was more famous and charged people to make personal appearances. However, with Zack, even before learning anything else, there had been a familiarity that he couldn't explain.

Their resemblance wasn't just passing; looking at Zack was like looking in a mirror. His accent, while mixed, still held certain intonations that Ivan recognised from his homeland. Although he was sure that Riley and Shelby would no doubt want to do more tests or look deeper to be sure, in a lot of ways Ivan already believed that Zack was descendant.

It had never occurred to Ivan to think he had any descendants. He had been captured by Fury before he had married and fathered any heirs, at least, any that had claimed his estate. He had already found out through his own research that his estate had reverted to the crown due to the belief that he had no living heirs. He had believed as everyone else had that his bloodline had ended with him, that was the end of his family's story as far as he knew.

He had never thought to consider that he might have left behind any children, but now that he had been faced with the thought of it, he had thought back long and hard over his life. Men in his time, especially noblemen were known to have relations with multiple women. Not just the ones that they seriously considered as suitable partners for giving birth to the heirs they would leave their legacy to, but many for recreation. He was never into it himself, but many of his brothers in the Knights of Zandar were known to frequent brothels. Others would also simply spend time with locals in town any time they travelled. For Ivan, it was the jousting circuit.

The knights on the jousting tour were like the rock stars, actors and professional athletes of their age. Their fame and reputation spread all across Europe, and wherever they went, there was no shortage of fans, and where there were fans, there were those that were willing to take their fan love to the next level. Ivan had never really thought much of the maidens he had spent his nights with, in many instances the short time he was in town for the tournament was literally the only time he would ever see them. Some of them, he couldn't even recall their names. It wasn't something he thought too deeply about, it was just the done thing for a young gentleman such as himself to partake of the local offerings. Now though, thinking about it, he could only hear Shelby's disapproving tone and what she had been saying about how he spoke of Erin.

He was often reminded of the fact that this time was strange to him, and things he knew or took for granted were sometimes seen as silly or even offensive. At first, Kendall and Shelby liked it whenever he would offer to carry things for them or hold open doors or suchlike. However, he could remember one time getting a hard glare from Kendall when he looked to Tyler and spoke to him for direction in the museum. He hadn't meant any offense, and while he was used to bowing to and acknowledging directions from ladies and baronesses and princesses and the likes, it was always understood that it was in deference to their husbands.

While Tyler led out in the field, over time he noticed that he would always concede to and accept direction from Kendall in the lab or in the museum. Those were her fiefdoms, and in those areas she was the unquestioned ruler. It took him a while to get used to that. It took him a little longer to understand that Shelby got upset whenever he tried to take over from her. He meant it as a way of helping, but she took it as a slight, that he didn't think she was capable of doing things for herself. While he was getting used to those things, he had found this recent issue something that was confusing to him.

"Why is it when a guy sleeps with twenty women he's a stud, but when a woman sleeps with two she's a slut?" She had once put it in one of her most frustrated, less diplomatic moments. He couldn't really give her an answer beyond 'that's how it is'. In his day, it was expected that a gentleman's bride was to be 'pure' unless she was a widow. The other women, the ones with whom he sowed his 'wild oats'...not so much!

"Hey there stranger?" He heard a familiar voice greet him. He turned to see Erin approaching him. "I wondered when I'd see you again."

"Erin, what are you doing here?" He asked her. She pointed down the street.

"I was heading to see that movie again." She told him. "Well...see it anyway. I remember we didn't really get to see much of it last night."

"No...no we didn't." He said, looking a little crestfallen. Erin noticed that something seemed to be bothering him.

"Ivan, is everything alright?" She asked him. "Is this about...last night?"

Ivan didn't say anything. He couldn't think of anything he could say that would make things any better. He couldn't help thinking about Shelby's question as to whether he was treating Erin as just another in a string of women, or if he genuinely cared for her. Unfortunately, his silence seemed to be worse than an answer. She came in closer.

"Ivan, you did...you did like last night didn't you?" She asked him. "Was I not...was it me? Did I do something...?"

"Erin, no of course not, you did nothing wrong." Ivan assured her, now trying to think of how to answer her. It was difficult, especially since he wasn't entirely sure how he felt himself. Not about Erin, he knew he liked her, but he wasn't certain if he was right for her. He didn't know if anything about him was right. "But...I couldn't help thinking...what we did, I...I didn't take any precautions."

"Is that's what's bothering you?" She asked him. "Ivan, we were both involved in the decision. I took some precautions myself."

"Erin, do you think of me as a good man?" He asked her. She just looked puzzled by this.

"I wouldn't be with you if I didn't." She told him.

"Erin, I know some of my behaviour, some of the things I do and say seem silly...indeed, some of them seem to annoy people." He told her. "I've started to think about a lot of the things..."

"Have you been listening to Shelby again?" She giggled. "Ivan, I know she's all about standing up and doing everything herself and proving she's every bit as good if not better than a man at absolutely EVERYTHING, but that's not me. I like it when you want to take care of me. I like it when you offer me your coat or pull out my chair or call me your lady."

"I was thinking about other things..."

"Look, I believe a woman should be paid an equal wage for the same work as a man, that she should be able to vote and own property...and if you try to tell me what I can and can't wear or who I'm allowed to be friends with we're going to have a scrap on our hands!" She stated flatly. "But, I kind of like some of your old-school gentleman stuff. I kind of like it when you treat me like a princess."

"I don't feel like much of a gentleman as of late." Ivan answered. "I have had...relationships...before ours. Ones that I didn't take as seriously as I should have or show the respect I should have..."

"Ivan, I never for a minute assumed I was your first." She told him, taking his hand. "After the moves you had last night...that put pretty much any doubt of that out to pasture."

"Erin, I just...I don't think I was a good man." He told her. "I've treated a lot of people terribly, and I've only just realised how badly I've treated people in my past."

"You do remember you're talking to someone who spent about 21 years lying to pretty much everyone I've ever met, pretending to be something I'm not." She reminded him. "If there's one thing I know about, it's regretting your past. The one thing I've learned is you can't do much about your past, but you can decide who you want to be in the future."

"Erin, you are...amazing." He said to her, drawing her in closer.

"So...would you like to see that movie again?" She asked him.

"I'd like to see it for the first time." He told her. "If you would do me the honour."

"I would be glad to My Lord." She said, hooking her arm in his.

Meanwhile, in Reefside, Carl's latest show was just starting. The show began with Jack making his way down to the ring. He had the heavyweight championship slung over his shoulder, strutting down the ring completely indifferent to the crowd's loathing. Virtually all of them were on their feet, chanting and jeering as he made his way past. One fan reached across the barrier for him, taking a swipe, but Jack had dealt with such things his whole career. He pie-faced the fan back into his seat, before pulling just out of reach, taunting him as security restrained him.

He got to the ring, rolling under the rope and getting to his feet, beginning to pace around the ring. He grabbed a mic from the ringside announcer and stared out over the crowd, sneering at their disdain, drinking it in like it gave him sustenance. It had been years since he had an audience in the palm of his hand like this! There truly wasn't one person in the audience that didn't have an opinion on his recent actions...he even saw a sign or two from audience members who SUPPORTED his actions!

"Keep wasting your breath all you want! It isn't going to change the fact that you're the ones paying to see me!" He began, which just increased the uproar, causing him to smile. "I see people like you every day of my life! I see it any time I go into a coffee shop and see some thirty five year old slinging coffee beans. I see it any time I go to a supermarket and I see some guy packing my bags that I need to explain to that eggs go at the TOP of the bag!"

He started pacing around the ring.

"The reason you all hate me is because unlike each and every one of you, instead of sitting around waiting on things being handed to me, I saw what I wanted and I TOOK IT!" He yelled, holding up his title belt. "I made the decision that for too long this company's been headed up by a bunch of cry-babies and kids who don't know what it's like to face a real man! So everyone they put in my way, I rolled over like a hurricane!"

He heard a smattering of chants, and a few in particular caught his attention. He went to the ropes once more, leaning over.

"I stretched that little bitches' knee so much she's going to be on the shelf for months!" He yelled at them. "I felt the last one of her tendons snapping like a cheap rubber band! If she's smart, she'll never come back!"

The fans just started to get even more restless, and the security were becoming concerned that things were going to get out of hand. For Jack though, this brought him back to the high point of his career. He was the top attraction in the company, and not because he held the belt. By this point the belt was just a prop. He was the main attraction because people in the audience were invested in him with the kind of enthusiasm that bordered on the mass psychosis of a riot...and Jack was loving every minute of it!

"I put her on the shelf! I put that useless piece of shit I dragged out of the gutter right back there where he belongs!" Jack screamed at the crowd, holding up his title once more. "I'm the one that EVERYONE fears, and there's not one person out there that can do a damn thing about it!"

Just then, there was a scream from the crowd as someone leapt over the barrier and slid into the ring. He grabbed Jack, spinning him around and clocking him across the face with a huge punch that sent him staggering. The crowd lit up as the ball cap fell off and they could see that it was Koda. Jack and Koda traded punches, but soon Koda was the one in control, driving Jack back towards the ropes. Koda hit the opposite ropes, running back and clobbering Jack with a clothesline that flipped him backwards out of the ring to the floor.

Koda started pacing the ring, pulling off his t-shirt as the crowd went ballistic. Jack snatched the title belt from the ring, before backing up the ramp, keeping his eyes on Koda the whole time. The crowd started chanting for Koda, who had just fired the opening shots and made his statement. He was back, and his sights were set firmly on The Deer Hunter!

In Amber Beach, Riley and Leanne were walking in the park by the edge of the lake. They were laughing and joking about the events of the last few days. Leanne took a bite of a steak sandwich that Riley had gotten from a snack truck for her, watching her eating it.

"So...the rare stake, is that a vampire thing?" He asked her. "That looks so red that you could bring it back with a defibrillator."

"It...it helps." He giggled. "But in truth I just like my meat rare. I always have, ever since I dated that Derek..."

Her words tailed off, and she looked to Riley hoping he didn't catch onto that. She didn't want to bring up her exes...or more accurately ex, singular, with him. Riley didn't seem to mind though.

"So...Derek?" He asked. "Was he a Briarwood guy?"

"He was from a local werewolf pack." She told him, gulping down her mouthful. "It...didn't work out."

"What was it? Was it the whole vampire/werewolf thing?" He asked her. She just shoved him.

"It didn't work out because he was a dick that was cheating on me with anything in a skirt that stood still long enough." She chuckled as she looked to him. "Seriously, you need to read something other than 'Twilight'."

She stopped in her tracks, looking straight at the Green Ranger.

"Listen, thanks for tonight. You really didn't have to do all this." She told him.

"Leanne, I was happy to." He told her. He took a deep breath. "I...I...remember what you were prepared to do."

"You heard that?" She asked him. "We all thought..."

"I was pretty out of it, I couldn't say anything, hell, I couldn't DO much of anything, but...I heard pretty much everything." He told her. Leanne felt her chest tighten up hearing him say this. It was something she hoped he would never know, that if it weren't for Zenowing, she was moments away from attempting to turn him.

"Riley, please know...I didn't want to do it." She told him. "I...I couldn't see another option. If I'd known about Zenowing's abilities, I'd have gone with his option. I'd never want..."

"Leanne, why are you talking about this like it's a curse?" He asked her.

"Because...it is." She told him. "Once I did this to you, it would have been something that I could never take back. I couldn't even ask if you wanted me to do it."

"But you would have done it." Riley answered. She just nodded.

"I'd have done it, even if you ended up hating me forever." She answered. "I couldn't watch you die...even if the only way I could save you was to..."

"Leanne, no one has ever been willing to do anything like that for me." He answered, taking her hands in his. "I can't imagine what that choice was like for you!"

"It wasn't a choice." She murmured. "I couldn't let you die, not if I could o something to stop it."

Riley came in closer, taking her face in his hands and pulled in, kissed her softly. Leanne's eyes shot open as he did this, unable to believe that this was really happening. As he parted from her, he smiled.

"I'm glad you didn't have to make that choice." Riley told her. "But I could never imagine hating you."

He put his arm around her and they both started walking around the lake again. Leanne felt warmth that she never did with anyone else in his grasp.

"So...I guess I'm into older women." He responded. "So I'm your toyboy by 40 years?"

"Riley...you really know how to spoil a moment." She chuckled, putting her arm around him. "But I love you anyway."


	18. The Worg Show

Things were busy at the museum ahead of opening; Flash was thoroughly excited for the unveiling of his new exhibit, Worg the Caveman! He was finally convinced he had worked out all the kinks and that he had a real money-spinner on his hands.

Tyler came in, stumbling through the door as he had to fight his way past people cueing up to get in. His hair was out of place, and he had to straighten out his t-shirt as Leanne caught him to stop him falling and Chase struggled to close the door.

"Jeez, what happened to you?" Leanne asked him.

"Flash sent me outside to set up the sign, it's chaos out there!" Tyler said, gesturing to the throng of people outside. Leanne just looked out, furrowing her brows.

"Wow, I didn't think there would be this many people interested in seeing a mannequin." She commented.

"I think it might be something to do with the fact Flash papered half the city with free admission tickets and half-price coupons for the cafe." Chase told her. Leanne just shook her head.

"He complains about Sarah giving refunds for defective merchandise and then tanks today's takings in one fell swoop?" She grumbled. "How could this day get any worse."

"There you are my pale wonder!" Flash called out. Leanne just rolled her eyes.

"I HAD to ask!" She muttered.

"Come with me, we have to get you into your outfit." He told her. Leanne just looked at him sceptically.

"Outfit?" She asked. "I'm already wearing my uniform."

"Oh, today you have something VERY special!" He told her. "Come on Allison!"

Allison walked out, with an expression on her face that somewhat resembled a Death Row inmate after his last meal! She was wearing what could only possibly be described as a fur bikini, and it was pretty much as small as it was possible to get it without violating exposure laws! She had a plastic club hanging from her belt. Leanne just gulped.

"You're...you're joking right?" She asked him. "Second thoughts, don't answer that. I'll go and get changed."

"It's in your locker." Allison told her as Leanne went to get changed. Flash put his arm around her, causing Allison's skin to crawl.

"Come on people, we still have plenty to do!" He told them. "Let's get going! The public awaits!"

As he left, everyone wandered off, except for Chase and Allison. She just sighed, seeing him staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"When we're done here, can you...um...can you bring that home?" He asked her, gesturing to her outfit. Allison took the club off her belt.

"I'm going to insert this somewhere you won't get it back!" She warned him. Chase just held up a hand.

"Right...um...I should...yeah." With that, he went off to find somewhere to go that he could stay out of Flash's way before he got any more bright ideas.

Meanwhile, out the back, Riley was helping Zack paint a second coat on the walls he had defaced. In truth, it didn't really need it, but Riley wanted to keep Zack around for a little while. He was still curious about the young man, there were simply way too many coincidences surrounding everything. He did possess enough of a genetic match to Ivan for it to be safely presumed that they were connected on some level, but the fact that Zack was also from Zandar and looked pretty much identical to the Gold Ranger had Riley unable to let go of his thought that the Zack was a little more than just a distant descendant, but possibly a direct link to Ivan's bloodline.

"You know, we had an exhibit to Zandar here once." Riley told him.

"Yeah, I saw something about that in the press." Zack stated. "Didn't that guy in Red pretend to be the Prince?"

"Yeah...that's a long story." Riley said, starting to shift a little. "We...had a tip-off that someone was going to try and rob the exhibit, so we tried to lure them out. Unfortunately, we never clued Phillipe in on it. To say he was pissed would be putting it mildly!"

"Phillipe?" Zack asked with a little scoff. Riley just looked to him.

"Yeah, we actually know him. After we straightened out that whole misunderstanding he let us host the exhibit with his blessing. He only took most of it back recently when he opened the Embassy." Riley informed him with a smile. "He even let us hold my 17th Birthday party there. It must be kind of cool to have the heir to your nation in the city."

"Hey, it's not like I ever elected the guy." Zack said somewhat derisively. "The only reason I even came here is because the Embassy is here and mom needed to sort out our papers."

"You don't sound like you like him much." Riley commented. Zack just shrugged.

"His dad all but kicked us out of Zandar." Zack responded.

"Why?" Riley asked him. Zack just gestured to the wall.

"Stuff like this." He answered. "The cops said if they caught me one more time they'd put me in jail, so mom freaked and put us on the first flight the hell out of there."

"You got kicked out for GRAFFITI?" Riley asked him. Zack pulled out his cell phone and showed Riley a picture. Riley's eyebrows just shot up. "WHOA!"

"Yeah, I was kind of proud of that, one of my best works!" Zack chuckled, looking at it. "It took me ages to figure out how to get up that clock tower, and that design is..."

"That design...you DON'T see why the Prince was upset about that?" Riley asked him. "You know, in some countries you can get executed for less."

"It's a good likeness!" Zack protested.

"It's also not exactly flattering is it?" Riley laughed in response. "So, you manage to get yourself deported and you think this is still all a good idea?"

"I just love art." Zack answered with a shrug. "I can't help it if not everyone likes it."

"I just thought after being kicked out of your home country you MIGHT just think there might be a better way to pursue your art!"

"I would wholeheartedly agree!" Ivan said as he arrived, carrying an easel, and a bag which seemed to be weighed down with numerous art supplies. Both Riley and Zack just stared at him.

"Uh...Ives? What are you doing?" Riley asked him.

"My cousin here appears to have an interest in art, I just felt like he might like to find a way to express his art that doesn't land him in so much trouble." Ivan told him. "And what better way than from him to learn true artistry than from a true master...me?"

"You're serious?" Zack asked. "Dude, you do remember we only met yesterday right?"

Riley came over and took Ivan by the arm, taking him away a little to speak with him privately.

"Ivan, what is all this?" Riley asked him.

"I would have thought it was obvious. We both share a love of art." Ivan answered him. This was true; Ivan was an accomplished and enthusiastic artist. When he wasn't serving the Prince, Ivan, like most in his time, had to find ways to fill his hours in a time long before television. Like many nobles, Ivan had been heavily into reading and art as a way to pass the time when he wasn't called on to serve the Royal Household. A lot of the paintings that currently hung in the palace, the Embassy, and even the museum were actually Ivan's work.

"Look, this is a surprise, I get that, but you don't need to push..."

"Sir Riley, this young man is my blood. I can feel it; I don't need any more of your tests to confirm that to me." Ivan told him sadly. "I never knew about my child, I never supported my child in any way. I have no idea what kind of life that woman could have provided for my child...I don't even know which one of them it was."

"Then let me find out a little more." Riley tried to reason with him. "I've got the DNA from Zack, I've sent his name to Phillipe, and he said he can look back over records, try to find out as much about his family as he can..."

"Sir Riley, it matters not if my child was raised by a Duchess or a scullery maid." Ivan told him. "That child grew up without any assistance from me, and that is something I now can never correct. What I can do is try to have a relationship with my great, great...whatever...Grandson."

He went to Zack, tucking the easel under his arm.

"Now, come Zack, I find the park to be an excellent source of inspiration!" Ivan declared.

"Yeah, that really doesn't sound..."

"Well, you can do that or remain here and continue with this kind of painting." Ivan told him. "I have a feeling you'll find this kind of painting a little more fun."

He sighed and threw down his paint roller.

"Alright, come along 'cousin'." Zack said, making the air quotes to emphasise his scepticism over this. Ivan just turned and left, leaving Riley to clean up the painting supplies.

At the front door of the museum, Koda was just arriving. The team knew he was spending a lot of time with Alessandra to help her out while she recovered from surgery, and so they were a little more flexible now with the time he spent at the museum.

He was brimming over with excitement as he approached the museum, almost exploding with all the news he had for his friends. Now that he was back in the ring, and had been put into a feud with Jack, he was pretty much at the top of the card in Carl's promotion. Carl had already given Koda a basic run-down of the way the feud was going to run, giving him the dates of the times he and Jack would clash. It was a pretty full schedule that Koda was eagerly looking forward to. Jack had been the one to bring him up to the roster in the first place, and his time teaming with Jack had earned Koda a lot of his reputation with the fans.

Jack had used his reputation to give Koda 'the rub', and add legitimacy to his reputation as they teamed together, but the only thing that could be any more beneficial would be a feud. Even if Koda ultimately lost the overall feud, competitive and well-received matches against someone with Jack's reputation would really put him on the map and propel him into stardom. It seemed odd to think that fighting with one of his best friends would be a good thing, but as Jack had put it quite flippantly, 'the more we hurt each other, the more money we make and the more we'll like each other'. It was a little odd to think, but Koda knew what he meant by that and he couldn't wait to tell his friends!

As he got to the museum, his attention was grabbed by the sign out the front. He was curious to see what it was, and as he approached, he saw a wooden cut-out, with a sign saying "Come meet Worg, the Caveman!"

Koda had never seen Worg; he hadn't been around when Flash was showing off his new exhibit. Staring at it, he saw a mannequin that was wearing a pelt, much like Koda had in his cave, and wielding a club. There was an arm on a mechanism that made the club go up and down. Koda scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Huh?" He asked, not understanding what he was seeing, before he heard a commission from inside. He headed into the museum, finding it packed out! It was extremely difficult to see what was happening through the crowd, but he could hear a lot of laughter and some cheers. He started pushing his way through, trying to see what the fuss was. As he got to the front, he saw Flash standing in an Early Man exhibit that he had helped set up, wearing a head-set, and acting in a very animated way with a huge grin on his face. A mannequin that looked exactly like the sign outside was moving around; clearly this was the Worg that he was showing off.

"It looks like Worg is getting hungry; let's see what's on the menu shall we?" Flash said. "Worg, eat!"

Koda watched the mannequin go to one of the bushes and start pulling off berries, shovelling them into his mouth. Koda's mouth hung open as he saw this. He was about to say something when Worg clutched his stomach and started doubling over near the bushes, and looked like he was puking.

"Uh oh...looks like he ate something that disagreed with him!" Flash said, eliciting a number of laughs from the crowd. Koda just shook his head. He knew those berries were poisonous, it was one of the first things the elders taught him. Worg went and took more berries, shoving them in his mouth, before 'puking' again. "Some people never learn do they?"

Koda started seething seeing this. His people would never be so foolish! Obviously, in the course of finding out what was and wasn't safe to eat in an area some mistakes were made, but his people were extremely careful and learned quickly. It wasn't as though they had hospitals to take care of anyone that fell seriously sick if they kept eating things that were poisonous; they needed to figure out pretty quickly when they could be deadly.

"Oh, look, he's seen something that looks a little better!" Flash said as a 'mouse', some kind of radio controlled furry thing started running around the exhibit. "Worg, hunt!"

"WORG!" The creature said as it took up a club and started chasing it around, pounding the ground in a futile manner as it chased the mouse around. People thought this was hilarious, seeing Worg chasing around the mouse in a comical manner. Koda however just looked disgusted. While his kind did hunt, they pretty quickly figured out what did and didn't work. They would perhaps use clubs to finish off a kill, but only once it had been brought down by far more efficient weapons such as a bow or spear. When the majority of the prey they hunted was either faster than them, stronger than them or was dangerous and would actively hunt THEM, running around in circles with a big stick was a very good way to die!

"Oh, look, he actually caught it! Well, I suppose he's going to cook it now. Worg, cook!" Flash said.

"WORG!" Worg said as it picked up the mouse and headed to the campfire. He leaned over the fire, holding the 'mouse' by the tail over the flames. People laughed and took pictures. Koda though was feeling sick to his stomach. His people would never cook that way. Not only had they figured out holding something over a fire with their bare hands a very bad idea, they would skin the animal first, since the pelts were extremely useful for clothing and blankets. Worg's hair went on fire and he stood upright, before running around in circles.

"WORG!" It called out in its mechanical, tinny voice as it proceeded to hit itself repeatedly on the head with its club and its one free hand! People were clutching their sides, almost in pain from laughter, and some had even fallen to the floor. Koda though did not see the funny side in the slightest. Allison came to tell Flash something, coming from the restaurant. Flash saw her, and stopped laughing long enough to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Oh, well it looks like Worg has another 'need' he has to fill." Flash said, looking at Allison who just looked alarmed now. "Worg, MATE!"

"WORG!" The caveman called out loudly, barrelling straight for Allison. Before she could respond, Worg had picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and was heading for his 'cave'.

"What the hell?" Allison screamed, beginning to kick as she struggled to get out of his grip. "Put me down!"

"It looks like Worg has quite the night planned eh folks?" Flash laughed. By now, Koda had seen more than enough. He stormed onto the stage, grabbing Allison and pulling her off Worg's shoulder, before shoving the caveman to the ground.

"STOP THIS! STOP THIS NOW!" Koda yelled, waving his arms around in a frenzy as he confronted Flash.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea how much that costs?" Flash demanded as Chase finally managed to get through the crowd and up onto the stage. He had been at the back, watching from a distance when he saw Worg grab Allison, and had started fighting his way to the front. He grabbed hold of Allison, who was more than a little shaken up by all of this. Koda approached Flash, drawing up to full height and standing right over him, growling.

"Turn OFF!" Koda stated flatly. Flash just grabbed the mic.

"Worg, turn off." He stated, at which the mannequin, which was struggling to get back up suddenly fell still. He pulled off his headset. "You better have a good excuse..."

"This wrong! This ALL wrong!" Koda screamed at him, completely incensed at seeing his people slandered and humiliated so brazenly in Flash's idea of entertainment. "None of this how it was! This all...WRONG! No tell lies!"

"Lies? The truth is pretty open to interpretation my semi-lingual friend." Flash stated. "I know Kendall painted you as some kind of expert on cavemen, but I find it a little difficult..."

"This an INSULT!" Koda screamed at him. "No tell lies!"

"Well, fortunately cavemen aren't very litigious people." Flash told him. "If any cavemen want to sue me for slander, then they're perfectly welcome to. Until that happens though, the public seems to love my exhibit."

"What about me?" Allison snapped at him, glowing red in a combination of embarrassment and anger. "What the FUCK was that?"

"Look love, it's all part of the show..."

"He grabbed me off the floor!" She yelled at him. "What were you going to do? Wait until he had me in his cave and was having his way with me for laughs?"

"Calm down love, he couldn't have done anything to you!" He said in an off-hand way. "He's as anatomically challenged as a GI Joe! He couldn't do anything with you in that cave!"

"That's not the point!" Chase said, getting in his face. Flash just looked at the three of them, suddenly becoming defensive.

"Look, this exhibit is going to make a fortune!" He told them. "Look how packed this place is!"

"This thing INSULT!" Koda spat angrily. "If it here, I no work!"

"Fine, don't let the door hit you on the way out." He answered with a shrug. He then looked to Allison and Chase. "Anyone else? I might not be able to do anything about the big lug, or you, but I know I pay her wages..."

"That's it, I've FUCKING HAD IT!" Allison yelled at him, throwing up her hands. "I could deal with the disrespect, I could deal with you being a colossal dick to everyone who works for you, I could deal with you sticking your nose into every aspect of the cafe which I was running just fine before you showed up, but this? That's it...I've had it, I FUCKING QUIT!"

With that, Allison stormed off. Chase just bumped shoulders with Flash, almost knocking him over as he left.

"You're an arsehole mate." Chase stated. "Don't worry, you won't be seeing me again either!"

Flash straightened out his suit and went to Worg, starting to try and get it back to its feet, hoping that it was still able to perform. He had customers that he wanted to entertain.

 **A/N:** Just to explain, yes I AM skipping the body-switching monster from the rest of Ivan's episode. While I'm not saying it wasn't entertaining, since there had already been a body-switching plot earlier on, I really did feel like it didn't add much to the overall narrative. I've taken the decision to run Ivan's plotline into Worg's. Hope you all like it.


	19. Art Appreciation or Lack Therof

Ivan arrived in the park, with Zack in tow, looking as enthusiastic as if he was being asked to walk over hot coals. Ivan, however, was invigorated and energised by the thought of a day spent discussing and teaching his art with the young man.

It had been a shock to discover Zack's existence to say the least. Like many others in his day, he had always thought about some day in the future when he would have children of his own, those that he could pass down his legacy and knowledge to. Those he could teach what he knew and watch grow and continue the legacy of his family name. While he had always assumed it was something that would happen later in life, once he had found a suitable lady to marry and carry his heirs, following his imprisonment by Fury, he had assumed that his bloodline simply ended in his time. It was a thought that clearly was backed up by the fact that his lands and estates had been claimed by the crown following his presumed death. No one knew or believed he had any family with claim to his legacy. The more he thought about Zack though, the more he was convinced that wasn't the case.

Zack was...certainly not how he envisioned his offspring. He seemed to be ignorant, thoughtless, irresponsible...and yet he knew already of a few similarities between him and Zack other than their appearance. He had a flair and interest in art, one that Ivan was keen to encourage. It was a connection that would perhaps allow him to connect with a family he hadn't known he had a responsibility to.

"Now, this looks like a fine spot!" Ivan declared as he put down his bag and started to set up the easel. "Do you not agree this is a fine day for art?"

"Any day it's not raining is a good day. The paint doesn't dry if it's wet." Zack answered sarcastically. "Wind isn't too bad; I can work cold if I have a decent sweater."

"Yes, well...perhaps if you find a form of art that doesn't bring you into conflict with the local constabulary." Ivan stated. Zack just started laughing.

"Constabulary? You know no one talks like that anymore right? Not even in Zandar!" Zack mocked him. "Don't tell me you're one of those lame ass Zandarians that likes to pretend you're some kind of royal or something because you can trace your birth back to some blue-blood hundreds of years ago."

"There is nothing wrong with being proud of your lineage." Ivan said, glaring at Zack, angered by his irreverent attitude.

"Dude, I knew a PLUMBER that had his family coat-of-arms painted on the side of his house!" Zack said, pulling out an apple and starting to crunch it. "You can dress it up all you want, but you're not better than anyone else just because of your last name. If you work all day knee-deep in shit, you still smell like shit at the end of the day if you're the son of the Prince or the son of a drunk."

"You really do have no respect for heritage do you?" Ivan asked him, looking at his descendent.

"Heritage doesn't pay bills." Zack responded.

"Well neither does making snarky comments and painting other people's property without their permission!" Ivan said, before pulling back a little. Zack already wasn't exactly warming up to him, and driving him off didn't seem like it would do anything to help create a relationship.

"You were going to show me something?" Zack asked him. Ivan just pulled out a book and started flicking through some pictures of artwork, some of which he had created in his day. He stopped on a picture that he had painted depicting his victory in a tournament in Orleans. He smiled looking at it. It was a piece he had a great fondness for, and it was a piece he hoped Zack would too. Zack's work on the museum had consisted mainly of dinosaurs, naturally, and was very dynamic, showing the creatures in various fights and hunts.

He had already sensed the passion and emotion in Zack's work, and noted he had a fondness for action in his painting. He showed him the picture proudly.

"Here he is, the Knight of Zandar!" He stated. "Sir Ivan was a man who dedicated his life to the service of his great nation! He won many victories and much glory for Prince George..."

"Sounds more like he was a glorified errand boy." Zack commented, causing Ivan's expression to slip. "I mean, he won all those victories, and yeah, he might have had a castle and stuff but where did it get him? The Prince was the one who benefitted. He won a tournament and the PRINCE was given prestige? What's up with that?"

Ivan just bit his tongue, gesturing to the painting in the book.

"Well, politics aside, what do you think of the picture?" He asked him. "The lighting, the shadows...if this doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will!"

Zack looked at the picture for a moment, stroking his chin as he pondered it. He didn't like the idea of hereditary titles. Given the small size of Zandar, most of the population could trace their ancestry back to some noble or other. Many held it like some kind of badge of honour, strutting around with their noses in the air and bragging about their history. To him, it all seemed more than a little silly. However, he couldn't deny that he liked the picture. It was dynamic; she could see the drive and the action in the knight as he charged with his lance levelled.

"It is kind of interesting." Zack said, causing Ivan to smile. "How about if you pose for me?"

"Music to my ears my boy!" Ivan said proudly, placing down his book. "Where do you want me?"

"I just need some guidelines for the proportions." Zack told him, picking up a branch. "Could you...sit on that bench? Ride it like a horse, holding this."

"Like...a lance?" Ivan asked, almost unable to believe his good fortune. He could almost imagine if he had been able to return to his day, having a son that would ask him to do the same thing. He puffed out his chest and took the branch. "It would be my honour to pose for you!"

With that, Ivan went to sit on the bench. Zack took out a pencil to begin sketching to get his guidelines before he started with the paint. He smiled as Ivan struck his most heroic pose on his 'horse'.

"This is gonna be sick!" Zack said to himself as he began.

Over at the museum, Sarah was walking with her parents, who were furious over her recent treatment at the museum. They didn't know about the Rangers or what went on underneath the museum, Sarah had kept her word to keep them in the dark. Of course, that just meant she couldn't explain why she was so adamant about wanting to keep a low-paying part-time job where she had almost cracked her skull open only for the manager to refuse to pay for her treatment at hospital or even cover her time off.

"Please mom, please don't make a scene!" Sarah begged her. "I'm fine!"

"People who are fine don't spend time in the hospital!" Her mother said angrily. "If this Flash Barker thinks he can treat my little girl this way, then he has another think coming!"

"Please don't make a scene, I really love this job!" Sarah said as she tried to discourage her parents. Her father just looked down to her.

"Sarah, it's commendable you want to do right by your boss, but he has a responsibility to you too! He can't get away with treating people like disposable property!" He told her. "Now, where do we find Flash?"

"Hello there Sarah, are you coming back today?" Betty asked her as she arrived. "We could use the hand, Leanne's been run ragged. This place is packed, and with Allison quitting..."

"Wait, Allison quit?" Sarah asked her, suddenly looking worried. Hearing that one of the museum employees had walked out would not exactly do well backing up her assurances to her parents that the museum really wasn't a bad place to work. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Betty sighed. "Flash just pushed her buttons one too many times."

"Do you work here?" Mr Thompson asked her. Betty just looked to him.

"Who are you?" She asked him.

"We're Sarah's parents!" Mrs Thompson responded impatiently.

"I work here...I work here voluntarily but I work here." Betty answered with a shrug. "Flash is too much of a cheapskate to fire someone who works for free, so...I pretty much do what I feel like."

"So where is he?" Mr Thompson asked her. Betty just looked to him.

"You look mad; you aren't looking to cause him harm are you?" She asked.

"That depends on if he takes his responsibility to my daughter seriously!" Mrs Thompson answered. Betty just smiled.

"In that case, he's right over there on the early man exhibit." Betty told them, pointing the way. "I can show you the way if you let me watch!"

Mr and Mrs Thompson went over, with Sarah close behind them all the time begging them not to call out her boss. She knew that the Rangers had nothing to do with Flash or his behaviour. When they got there, he was busy checking over Worg, ensuring he hadn't been damaged.

"Good thing this thing is built to last." Flash grumbled. "Maybe...maybe with a little development I can have a few of these to replace..."

"Mr Barker!" Mrs Thompson yelled, finally able to rouse his attention. Flash just removed the headset he was wearing.

"Ah, sorry love, can barely hear a thing with these on." He said cheerfully. "What can I do you for?"

"You can start by telling me what you're going to do about the fact my daughter got ASSAULTED on YOUR PROPERTY!" She said, jamming her finger into his chest. Flash just rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell, not this again, I told you the museum holds no responsibility for what happens to her as a result of the actions of criminals." Flash told them.

"My daughter may be misguided, but she was acting to protect your museum!" Mr Thompson stated, gesturing to Sarah, who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute. "Most people would be grateful to have employees that would be so dedicated to protecting their property!"

"It's in her contract in black and white love, we have a..."

"A non-confrontation clause, you said that!" Mrs Thompson said angrily. "So none of your staff would do anything if I was to..."

"Easy there honey, easy." Mr Thompson said, holding back his wife, who looked like she was ready to rip Flash apart in the middle of his own museum. "Look, you have a business, you need to make money, I get that, but this...this place is a joke!"

"Now see here..."

"One of your staff just walked out! One of your staff got assaulted and you won't even pay her sick pay?" He demanded. "Not to mention that show you have going on outside..."

"Wait, show? What show?" Flash asked him.

"The caveman exhibit you have just outside the parking lot!" Mr Thompson told him. Flash just looked curious and brushed past them, heading outside.

"HEY!" Mrs Thompson demanded, running after him. When he got there, Flash found Koda sitting outside, by a fire he had erected, and wearing one of his pelts. People were gathered around, watching him as he crouched by the fire, telling them a story of sorts. He pulled a long, fine branch out of the fire.

"Caveman use fire to burn sticks clean, so no get sick." Koda told them, before putting a piece of meat on his makeshift skewer. "They eat whatever they hunt, mammoth, rabbit...but for this...chicken do to show."

He put the skewer on the fire, before removing another, which held a cooked piece on it.

"This one I make earlier!" He told them. "Anyone want try?"

The crowd applauded as he took the chicken off the skewer offering it to a kid who wolfed it down enthusiastically. Flash stormed over to Koda, shoving his way into the mix.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Flash demanded.

"I teach people about caveman!" He said innocently. "People learn real things, much better!"

"You..you can't do that!" He screamed. "You work for the museum..."

"I work Anton." Koda corrected him. Flash started turning red, seeing that a lot of people were gathered here instead of going into the museum.

"Well...you can't do it here!" He stated. "This is museum property!"

"Actually, museum property end here." Koda told him, showing him the edge of the car park. "This public land. Here, I say what I like. I believe call...First Amendment!"

Sarah and Betty snorted as they suppressed their laughs, seeing Flash getting owned in a civics lesson by a caveman that was born thousands of years before the constitution was even written! Flash and Koda seemed to be embroiled in their own argument, and so only Sarah and Betty noticed when a couple of guys wearing theatre masks, one wearing black robes and one wearing white robes walked into the street.

"Hey, who are those guys?" Sarah asked.

"They look like street performers." Betty answered, noticing one of them carrying a trumpet. "Damn, I hate trumpet music!"

The one in black pulled out a baton and started to wave it.

"Begin Screech!" He said, directing his cohort to begin playing. As soon as he started playing his trumpet, everyone in the street suddenly stopped and slumped down.

Sarah watched them, and could only stare, beginning to feel something washing over her mind. Things were starting to blank out, before she felt someone shove something in her ears and she heard country music playing LOUD! She looked around and realised that Betty had shoved the ear buds from her I-Pod in and turned up the volume to block out the music. She stared at her.

"The music!" Betty yelled so that she could hear her. "It's some kind of spell!"

Sarah looked around and noticed that everyone in the street was now coming toward them, slowly lurching for them like mindless zombies.

"We need to...WHOA!" Sarah screamed as Koda lunged for her, narrowly missing her. Fortunately with their minds, the music also seemed to strip people of their reflexes. Koda was much too slow to catch her. "Koda, please, we're friends..."

"Betty saw the headset around Flash's neck and got an idea. Running for him, she slipped under his clumsy lunge and snatched them off, before throwing the headphones to Sarah.

"You're faster!" Betty told her. Sarah nodded in understanding. As Koda came for her again, trying to grab her, she slipped under his arms and pulled the headphones on, clamping them down over his ears. Koda shook his head and looked completely confused.

"What...what happen?" He asked.

"It's that guy's trumpet!" Sarah yelled. Koda stared at her blankly. Sarah realised he couldn't hear her. She mimed playing a trumpet, before miming breaking it over her knee and pointed at the white monster. Koda nodded in understanding.

"Alright, let's clear him a path!" Sarah yelled at Betty, adopting a guard. "Keep the others..."

She tailed off as Betty pulled out a taser, hitting Flash with it. He hit the ground and stopped moving.

"BETTY!" Sarah screamed. "We can't hurt them, they're innocent people!"

"Oops...my bad." Betty responded with a not-so-innocent smile. Sarah and Betty got to work shoving people away as Koda sprinted for the monsters, leaping into the air and drop-kicking them both to the ground. He kipped back up, picking the trumpet up off the ground. Without the music playing, everyone quickly returned to normal and their survival instincts kicked in, causing them to flee. The monsters watched as Koda took the trumpet, smashing it off the ground, completely destroying it.

"My music!" The conductor wailed as he saw this. "Come Screech! Time for an intermission!"

With that, they ran off. Koda looked to Sarah and Betty.

"Thank you, you save." Koda told them. "Must get this to Kendall. Others need to know."

As he ran off to tell Kendall what had happened, Betty patted Sarah on the shoulder.

"Not bad kid." She responded. "You'd make one hell of a Ranger...and you can take that from someone who has a daughter AND a granddaughter that are Rangers!"

"Thanks." Sarah responded, blushing a little. "Say, Betty...how come you didn't get affected by the music?"

Betty reached behind her ear, at which Sarah noticed she had a hearing aid. She just smiled.

"I really hate trumpet music." Betty responded, turning it back on. "Sometimes there are advantages to being old."

Over at the park, Ivan was managing to push past the discomfort of sitting straddling the back of a branch for over an hour while Zack worked on his painting. He was delighted to think that Zack had felt so inspired by the painting of the Knight of Zandar that he had opted to try and re-create it. He held his pose dutifully as his descendent worked.

"OK, that's it! You're done!" Zack told him, stepping back and looking at the canvas with pride. Zack genuinely did love art, and nothing gave him a greater feeling than seeing one of his creations completed. It was true that it had been some time since he had worked on a canvas or any surface he actually had permission to paint on, though he still felt the satisfaction as he did. It occurred to him that at least this time, no one would be painting over his work, and because it was a canvas and not a brick wall or a bridge...maybe he might actually get to take it home!

"Really, already?" Ivan said, getting off the bench and stretching out, regaining feeling in his legs.

"Check it out!" Zack told him. Ivan came over and looked at the canvas...at which is face just fell, and he looked like he'd been slapped in the face.

The picture was of the Knight of Zandar...or at least...SOMETHING like that. It showed him flying over a city skyline on a motorcycle with the wheels on fire! He was wearing a cape with the letter Z emblazoned on it.

"Pretty rad huh?" Zack asked him. "I went for the imagery of the heroic image of knights, so I took a few artistic directions from comic books I love, the cape from Superman, the bike from Ghost Rider...I figured if knights lived nowadays, they'd be..."

"This looks like a court jester!" Ivan finally blurted out. "You managed to take one of the greatest heroes in our nation's history and make him look like...a fool!"

"I thought it was pretty good." Zack said defiantly.

"Just look at the colours, the proportions! It's all wrong!" Ivan said, looking to his descendent. "This is NOT art!"

Zack picked up the canvas off the easel and tucked it under his arm.

"Well, that's just your opinion man." Zack said bad-temperedly. "Good thing I don't need to care what you think."

"Get back here!" Ivan barked at him.

"What is your deal man? You act like you're my dad or something." Zack responded. "Until two days ago you'd never even met me, and you know what, maybe somewhere there is a family connection between us...like maybe we're fifteenth cousin or something, but that doesn't give you any rights to tell me what to do."

"If you don't return right now..."

"You'll do what? Call the cops? Go ahead!" Zack said, throwing his arms open. Ivan just stared at the young man who had called his bluff. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You know what, even if you did call the cops, it'd have saved me two days of painting that stupid wall and listening to your crap."

With that, Zack threw down the canvas.

"You know what? I wouldn't want you to accuse me of stealing your art supplies." Zack told him. " I may be a vandal, but I'm not a thief!"

With that, Zack stormed off. Ivan's thoughts were interrupted as his Dino Comm went off.

"What is it Ms Morgan?" He sighed.

"Ivan, come to the lab right away." Kendall told him. "We've got a serious problem on our hands."


	20. Art Is Subjective

On Arcanon's ship, the evil warlord was in Wrench's lab, while Wrench put the finishing touches on the devices Kendall had used to separate Doomwing and Zenowing. He looked on thoughtfully as Snide hung from chains in the centre of the room.

"Are you certain you've made the adjustments you promised?" Arcanon asked him. "Snide may be useful, but having Heckyl running around is a nuisance I can live without."

"That should just about do it." Wrench stated. "Here goes nothing!"

He turned the devices on and cranked up the power, blasting Snide from all directions with multi-coloured energy waves. Snide gripped his chains and tensed up, trying to resist the agony burning through him as he was pulled this way and that. Eventually though, it was all too much and he let out a horrendous scream. As the light faded, they saw Heckyl on his knees on the floor, but with Snide still standing in his restraints behind him.

"It worked!" Wrench called out excitedly.

"You villainous scumbag traitor!" Heckyl screamed at Snide, attempting to attack him, only to be seized by a couple of Spikeballs. Snide, even though he was still restrained, just laughed at the attempt. It was clear Heckyl was still weakened by the split.

"You're nothing without me!" Snide told him. "Nobody even knew who you were until I was created!"

"You'll all pay!" Heckyl promised them. "If it's the last thing I do, I'll ensure you all pay!"

"Enjoy solitary!" Arcanon told him, waving the Spikeballs off. "Once Snide has had some time to recover, I'll let him destroy you."

"You want me to destroy him?" Snide asked. "But...what if Wrench's adjustments don't work?"

"Well then, you'll be destroyed too and I'll have lost nothing." Arcanon stated. "Of course if it does work, what surer test of loyalty is there than you risking your own destruction to obey my commands?"

"Lord Arcanon, Conductro and Screech have returned." Fury said over the intercom. "They wish to speak with you!"

"Cut him down!" Arcanon instructed Wrench. "Come with me!"

Arcanon, Wrench and Snide all walked into the main command room, finding Conductro and Screech on their knees, with Fury standing behind them, holding his sword, almost as though preparing for an execution. Arcanon could only presume that things hadn't gone as planned.

"I don't see any Energems." Arcanon said menacingly as Snide joined Fury behind them, drawing his sword. "Tell me why you've returned without any Energems and I may not ask them to execute you!"

"Please Master Arcanon, give us another chance! Our debut wasn't a total fiasco!" Conductro begged him.

"Explain yourselves!" Arcanon demanded as Fury and Snide rested their blades on the monsters shoulders to make a point. "And it better be good!"

"We learned that the Rangers won't attack the zombies!" Conductro said as he pleaded with Arcanon for mercy. "Well...except that one guy...and it wasn't one of the Rangers, just some old lady but..."

"Perfect! That's how we'll get the Energems!" Snide stated, looking up to Arcanon.

"What use is that information? This one doesn't even have his trumpet anymore!" Fury reminded him.

"We can re-create his music, can't we Wrench?" Snide suggested. "Imagine if it played across the whole city! Thousands of people all swarming the Rangers to grab their Energems...and they won't risk fighting back!"

"The Rangers will be overwhelmed! You're already proving more useful than Doomwing was Snide!" Arcanon praised him, standing up from his throne. "But since we don't need the trumpet anymore, why do we need two of them?"

Conductro just screamed as Fury rammed the point of his sword down through Screech's chest. He ripped the blade out, at which Screech fell to the floor and exploded. Conductro just looked to Arcanon in horror.

"I spared you, don't make me regret that!" Arcanon warned him. Just then, they heard an explosion.

"What was that?" Arcanon called out. They all ran through the ship, finding a corridor near the solitary blocks lying in ruins. The Spikeballs that had been taking Heckyl back to his cell lay dead on the floor. "Heckyl escaped?"

"He must have been playing possum!" Wrench shrieked, realising the blame may fall on him for having him only guarded by two Spikeballs. "He...he tricked us!"

"We'll go after him and..."

"No, search the ship; last time he escaped he remained on the ship in an attempt to ambush me." Arcanon reminded them. "Wrench, see to it that conductor gets everything he needs. I expect by the end of the day to have the Energems and Heckyl's head on a plate!"

Meanwhile, back at the Dino Lab, Ivan arrived, carrying his art supplies and depositing them by one of the work benches as the others had gathered. Betty and Sarah were in the lab too, having come down from the museum. Since the attack, the place had emptied, and thanks to Betty 'accidentally' using her taser on Flash, there was no one around to object to locking up the museum for the day.

"I came as soon as I could." He stated. "What's going on?"

"Arcanon's latest monsters seem to have some kind of mind control." Kendall informed him.

"They were playing this trumpet and anyone that heard it turned into a mindless Zombie." Tyler added.

"If not for Sarah and GMa, we no have Energems now." Koda added. Sarah just smiled.

"It was nothing. Betty was the one who really saved the day." She told them, holding up her I-pod. "She just stuck in my ear buds and started blasting my Levi Weston."

"Not to mention turning off my hearing aid." She told them. "Trust me; this thing comes in handy when you have real boring types hanging around."

"The thing is, they managed to figure out how we can combat their music." Kendall told them. She held up the headset for controlling Worg. "While Koda was wearing this, and Sarah had in her earbuds and Gma had her hearing aid off, they couldn't hear the music. They blocked out the frequency that causes the mind control."

"So we just need to wear ear-plugs?" Chase asked. "Problem solved!"

"Not exactly." Tyler stated. "If we can't hear each other, how are we meant to co-ordinate our attack? We can't give any instructions to each other!"

"Which is why we've already been working on these!" Shelby said, showing them some more headsets. "Like Worg's headset, they also have in-built radio. We'll be able to hear each other while we fight."

"OK, so how many do we have?" Ivan asked. Shelby and Sarah just looked to each other and then back to the guys.

"Including Worg's control headset and these two...three?" Shelby offered.

"Well, it looks like we have some work to do then." Riley said with a sigh. "If all of us work on it, hopefully we'll have enough headsets."

"And I guess...I'm ordering the pizzas." Matt sighed as he pulled out his cell phone, looking a little dejected. As much as he wanted to help, with his skill set, he knew there were very real limits as to how he could help. Both Betty and Sarah were technically minded like Shelby, Riley and Kendall, while the others...they could help if they were shown how. "Trust me, my knowledge of electronics ends with plugging them in, but people need to eat right?"

The rest of them started to gather around to hear from Shelby what they needed to do, while GMa went to get some more parts. She noticed the painting on the floor and picked it up, admiring it with a smile.

"Say, who's the artist?" She asked them, looking at it with a smile. Ivan just let out a sigh and shook his head as he saw it.

"Ah yes, that would be young Zack's work." He told her. "Quite terrible I say."

"The knight of Zandar on a motorcycle, that's AWESOME!" Tyler declared as the others started to gather around to look at it.

"He very talented!" Koda declared.

"Can you not see, the shadows, the colour palette it's all wrong!" Ivan declared disdainfully. Betty just sighed and shook her head.

"Don't you know art is subjective young man?" She asked him. "Just because YOU don't like it doesn't mean it's not good."

"Yeah, it's not like there's any particular criteria that outright says what is and isn't a good picture." Matt told him. "I mean...I like that, but Riley showed me a picture of a Campbell's soup can and...I don't know why anyone would pay money for it but they did, a LOT of money!"

"I just want Zack to be a great artist!" Ivan told them.

"Well...maybe he is, but you don't know it because you can't see past what you like." Betty suggested to him. "Besides, don't you think it's up to Zack what he wants? Sure, he might be talented and it might be a shame if he decides to go down a different path, but maybe he doesn't want to be an artist at all, have you thought of that?"

"Ivan, we understand you want to help Zack and stuff like that, but...this might not be something you might do more harm than good." Riley told him.

"But I have a responsibility to..."

"You HAD a responsibility to YOUR kid." Shelby put down flatly. "You might think of Zack as a second chance, but he's not your kid. He already has a family."

"He...does seem somewhat less than enthusiastic about the idea of hanging around me." Ivan conceded sadly. "I have this because he threw it away."

"Do you really want to risk putting him off something he enjoys because you aren't into his vision of art?" Betty asked him. "I mean, my Doodlebug was an amazing piano player..."

"GMa please..."

"I could just sit there for hours and listen to her play..."

"GMa, they really don't need to hear..."

"But then, one day her Aunt Kendrix takes her on a trip to her university lab and just like that, all she can think about is science." Betty continued.

"You play piano?" Tyler asked Kendall. The Purple Ranger just gave him her death-glare. "Maybe sometime we can hear...OK...never mind!"

"I was disappointed that she didn't want to become a pianist, but, when all was said and done do you know what I did?" Betty asked him. "I ran right out and used the money I was keeping for her sheet music to buy her first chemistry set. You should have seen her little face light up when she saw that...!"

"OK! I think we all have some work to be getting on with!" Kendall announced, gesturing back to the work benches. "Those headsets aren't going to make themselves!"

As they headed towards the workbenches, Kendall took Betty's arm.

"Did you REALLY have to bring up the piano?" She asked. "Now I'll NEVER hear the end of this!"

With that, the team all headed back to work, all except Ivan who just took the painting aside, having another look at it.

"Well...it is creative." He conceded. "I have to give him that much!"

He picked up the painting and looked around, seeing the team was hard at work, he decided to quietly slip out the back. It wasn't as though he knew much about electronics, like Koda and Matt, he would very much be relegated to the sidelines on this project. He took one of the three headsets that had already been made and the painting and went in search of his descendent.

In the woods outside of Amber Beach, Heckyl finally stopped running. He knew he couldn't run forever, and that soon exhaustion would be a factor. The split had taken a lot out of him; he barely had enough power left to destroy the Spikeballs. Finding a good spot, he started to gather up some stones into a circle to create a fire pit.

"I don't know what your game is Snide, but aligning yourself with Arcanon is the lowest of the low!" Heckyl muttered angrily as he piled some branches into the fire pit. "He destroyed my planet and everything on it! You will surely suffer just as he will!"

With that, using some of his remaining power, he blasted the fire pit to ignite it. The night was drawing in, and soon he would need its warmth. As he sat by the fire, pulling his coat around himself and holding his hands close to it, the thing that sustained him was knowing that now he was no longer connected to Snide, there was nothing stopping him from going after Arcanon.

In the city, Ivan was looking around for Zack's place. He had gotten the young man's address from Phillipe, who had his visa papers at the Embassy, and so he knew where he lived, or at least...he knew ROUGHLY where he lived. In the dark, all the streets around here looked the same.

He saw a design painted across an overpass, depicting the Pterazord in the heat of battle. He could tell from the style that it was clearly Zack's work. He had indeed been busy in the city; his work covered a lot of it by now.

"Impressive work." He commented. "But however did you get up there?"

Just then, he heard a commotion from behind a nearby dive bar. Ivan could recognise the sound of a fight anywhere and headed for the alleyway leading around the back. When he got there, he could see three men gathered around a fourth, taking turns pummelling him. As his hood fell away, Ivan could see that it was Zack.

"Kid, I am sick to death of cleaning up your shitty graffiti!" One of them said as he slammed a fist into Zack's stomach, driving the air out of him and forcing him to his knees. Zack was fighting for breath as he rolled around on the ground. The man started to wind up, aiming a kick for his head, but as he took a step towards him, Ivan grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him backwards, tripping him as he went. The man glared up at him.

"I believe you've made your point!" Ivan stated.

"Trust me; I haven't even started to..." The man paused as he saw Ivan's face. "Wait...are you related to this little shit?"

"I am, yes." Ivan told him. "Now, I understand your frustrations and I am sure my gran...uh...cousin is very sorry for what he's done, aren't you?"

Zack was sitting up and just nodded, still unable to form words as he tried to get his breath back.

"Now, I can assure you he will not be back, certainly not after this." Ivan told him. "How about we let this drop shall we?"

"How about you keep that handsome nose out of this before it gets broken?" One of the others replied angrily. "This guy's been coming here and spray-painting over our bar for the last month! Look what he's done to it!"

Ivan just looked to the side of the bar, and could see vaguely behind Zack's work a pattern of two lightning bolts, and what he was sure had been a swastika. He looked to the three men, noting their shaven heads and clothing.

"As far as I can see it's an improvement." Ivan responded. "But, it is your property and your right to decorate how you see fit. Now, I'll just take my cousin and we'll go."

"You're not taking him any...whaooo!" One of them made a grab for Ivan, only for the Gold Ranger to twist his arm and launch him face-first into a wall. The other two came for him, but with practiced ease, Ivan picked them apart, his skill being far too much for them to overcome. One of them was on the ground, his hand covering his face, blood streaming down it from his nose.

"It appears I was not the one that needed to worry about my nose." Ivan taunted him. The skinhead got up, pulling something out of his jacket. With a click, Ivan saw a blade flick out. Ivan responded quickly, sweeping back his coat and pulling out his sword, swiping the blade from the man's hand and levelling the blade at his throat.

"Pick up your friends and what's left of your dignity and get back inside!" Ivan warned him. "We'll be on our way!"

The man just nodded as Ivan put his sword away, helping his friends up and helping them back inside. Ivan went to Zack, offering him a hand.

"Is this where you give me another lecture?" Zack asked him. Ivan just looked to him.

"What could I say that this lesson couldn't teach you?" Ivan asked him. "Come, let's get you home."

"Wait...so you're not going to get on my case? You're not going to go all 'Zack, this is what happens when you mess with other people's stuff' or 'Yo Zack, way to get your ass handed to you by a bunch of white supremacist dicks, what were you thinking?'"

"No, I think you're doing a fine job by yourself." Ivan told him, positioning himself under Zack's arm to help him along the path. He stopped to pick up his painting.

"What's with that?" Zack asked him. "I thought you hated it..."

"Well, I admit that it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I find its growing on me." Ivan told him. "Besides, what one person sees as art another will not. That doesn't mean it deserves to be thrown away."

"So...this is...an apology?" Zack asked him. Ivan just nodded.

"I know I may have come on a little strong, and I know I have no rights to simply expect to have a relationship with you. We've only just met." Ivan stated. "But...for a long time I've believed I had no family remaining. Perhaps I was pushing a little hard once I found out that wasn't the case. I have no right to tell you how to live your life Zack. I don't even know you. Though if you would permit it, I would very much like to rectify that."

"Well, I have to admit when I first met you, you seemed like kind of a dick." Zack told him. "But...I guess you're kind of cool, in your own way."

"High praise indeed!" Ivan told him as they got to the main street. Zack indicated which way it was to go home.

"So, where did you learn to fight like that anyway?" Zack asked him. "Were you in the military?"

"In a manner, yes I was." Ivan replied. "If you promise not to go back to that...establishment...then I may just agree to teach you a few things."

"That is most definitely a deal." Zack answered.


	21. The Swan Song

Time was moving far too quickly for everyone's liking as the team worked on the headsets. They knew that Arcanon was likely working on a replacement for Screech's trumpet, and so every minute that ticked by was one more moment in a race against time where they couldn't see the other runner. There was no way to tell which side was winning.

Matt sat back with the pizza, watching the team work, and sighed as he took another slice. There was literally nothing he could do to help right now. Even Betty and Sarah were able to help put together the headsets, but he was sitting around feeling as useful as a parachute in a subway. As much as he wanted to help, it would take so long for anyone to even show him what to do that he would just get in the way.

He couldn't help looking over to Kendall, who was in her element. Even without the museum, this was what she excelled at. She was directing the others, checking their work and generally leading the way. He smiled, seeing her moving from one station to another, ensuring the work on the headsets was going according to plan. Betty came across and took a slice from the box.

"In all my years I have never for the life of me figured out what made some lunatic decide to put pineapple on a pizza." She commented, putting it back and choosing another pizza.

"When we were going out, Kendall ordered from a place that put bananas on it once." He replied. He saw the expression on her face. "Yeah, I pretty much thought the same thing until I tried it."

"It's difficult isn't it?" She asked him, seeing the way he looked at Kendall. "You see someone you love and all you want to do is help them, but you can't."

"I guess it was always going to be that way." Matt replied with a shrug. "I know there's not much I can do to help."

"I don't know about that exactly." Betty told him. "Doodlebug's now the second generation of my family that's been involved in all of this."

"I just...wish there was more I could do to help." Matt said to her.

"You want to be her hero..."

"No, I just want to help." Matt said to Betty truthfully. "If that means all I can do is order the pizza, then...I guess you can change my name to Papa John." Just then, one of the computers bleeped. Matt could see that none of the team had noticed it, they were much too busy. Instead, he opened it up, taking a look.

"What is it?" Betty asked him.

"It's just a message for Kendall." He told her. "I suppose you can add secretary to my list of duties now."

"Who said there was anything wrong with being a secretary?" Betty asked him. "Young man, I worked in a steel mill once. You know what we always said? The Plant Manager could be off for a year and no one would notice. The Line Manager could take a vacation for a month and it wouldn't be an issue, but if the guy that swept the floors was off for a day, pretty soon everyone would find it hard to get around."

Just then, an alarm sounded. Kendall looked to one of her screens.

"Alien bio-signs, it looks like we're out of time." She told them, pulling up security footage from the area of the alert.

"It's one of those monsters." Chase said, looking at the image. "Where's the white one?"

"I'm not sure, but looking at that device he's setting up..." Before Kendall could complete her thought, they heard the music starting to blast out. Fortunately, the recording filtered out the key frequency that affected the mind-control. "Yeah, we're definitely out of time."

"Before they had a trumpet, they could maybe affect a hundred or so yards...that thing could potentially affect the whole city." Riley commented.

"It looks like it already has." Tyler added, checking some other cameras. "People are leaving their homes; wandering around the streets...I can see zombies across at least a dozen city blocks!"

"OK, so we're out of time. How many headsets do we have?" Sarah asked.

"Four." Chase said, looking to the table.

"Wait...only four?" Riley asked. "I could swear I just finished a fifth..."

"No, there's only four here." Chase said, pointing to the table.

"Say, anyone know where Ivan is?" Sarah asked. "Also, who wants to bet that isn't a coincidence?"

"Ms Morgan, Tyler, someone come in!" They heard Ivan's voice say through one of the headsets. Tyler put on the headset.

"Ivan, where are you?" He asked.

"I went to see young Zack. I heard the music and put on the headset before it affected me." Ivan told them. "I'm at Holly Park!"

"That's a couple of miles from the monster's location!" Riley said. "If the music's travelling that far..."

"We're in real trouble trying to get to him." Tyler interrupted him. "Ivan, I'm sending the monster's location to your morpher. Meet us there, but remember, try not to hurt any of the zombies on your way! These people aren't responsible for their actions."

"I'll do what I can." Ivan responded. Tyler looked around the room. "Well, we know these work now."

"But we still have only four." Shelby reminded him.

"Five." Koda corrected her, holding up Worg's control headset. "This one still work."

"That's still one short." Tyler stated.

"That's not a problem; I'll direct things from here." Kendall told him. "The rest of you go, make sure you close the curtains on this guy's performance for good."

"We're on our way." Tyler told her as they all put on their headsets and ran from the museum.

On the ship, Arcanon was watching the Rangers battle, hoping to catch glimpses of his victory. By now almost the whole city was wandering the streets as his mindless zombies. The only people that weren't already under his control were people that somehow couldn't hear the music, those in insulated buildings for instance, and with the zombies breaking into buildings to seek out the Ranges, he was certain that it wouldn't be too long before everyone in the city was under Conductro's spell.

He was interrupted as Snide and Fury walked in.

"Lord Arcanon, we've searched the ship. There is no sign of Heckyl anywhere on board." Fury told him.

"You mean he escaped?" Arcanon asked them.

"It appears that way." Snide answered. "We could search the woods..."

"No, that won't be necessary." Arcanon told them. "Soon I will have all the Energems. Once I have all of them, I have no further use for this planet. I'm sure even Heckyl won't survive when I vapourise the whole world."

Arcanon rose from his chair and started to head for the door.

"Lord Arcanon, where are you going?" Snide asked him.

"Conductro will have my Energems soon enough." He told them. "I'm going there to collect them. I find if I want something done right around here, I need to do it myself!"

As he left, Fury looked to Snide and levelled his sword across his shoulder.

"I don't know how Singe could stomach his insults for all those years." Fury stated. "I've only worked for him a few months and I've had my fill."

"Not to worry." Snide answered. "He won't be a problem much longer!"

The streets were hard going for the Rangers, it seemed like whatever control the music had over the zombies directed them towards the Rangers whenever they were in sight. They were slow, and they were easy enough to avoid individually, but with his new device, the streets were packed with the zombies, and as they got closer and closer to the epicentre, there just seemed to be a much higher density. They all crouched down behind a dumpster as they got close.

"Alright, the source of the music is just past those zombies." Tyler told them.

"Unfortunately getting past them is going to be a little bit of a problem." Chase commented. "I haven't seen this many people in one place since the N-Zed Boyz last concert."

"We can't hurt them." Shelby reminded them. "They don't know what they're doing, they're innocent."

"We may not have much of a choice in the matter." Chase told her. "Look, I don't like the idea either, but if we only aim to get them out of the way..."

"People are going to get hurt, but...it's better than the alternative." Tyler said regretfully. Koda thought for a second and then a smile crossed his face.

"I have idea." He told them. "Be right back!"

"Koda, where are you going?" Shelby yelled. "KODA!"

"Um...Shelby? They kind of heard you!" Riley said, pointing to the zombies that were shuffling towards them. Shelby just looked apologetic.

"Oops." She answered. "Um...new plan...RUN!"

With that, the Rangers all ran, hoping to get themselves at least some room to rethink their approach. Everywhere they turned, all they could see were zombies homing in on their location. They were eventually all backed into a corner, and could see zombies closing in on them. Chase gulped.

"Guys, know that other plan I had?" He asked. "How about we try that now?"

"We don't have a choice." Tyler agreed. "Right, we attack, but only put them down! We don't want to hurt people..."

Before he could talk though, someone leapt over them, landing on the ground.

"Koda?" Chase asked, seeing him. Koda got up and sprinted right for the zombies, but leapt over them, and kept on going. The zombies all turned and started to head after the Blue Ranger.

"Way to go Koda!" Tyler said, looking to the others. "Alright, he's bought us time, let's not waste this sacrifice..."

"What sacrifice?" Koda asked as he arrived, wearing a fur loincloth. The Rangers all looked confused; looking between Koda and the direction they had just seen him running.

"Wait...how did you...why are you wearing...huh?" Shelby said. Koda just smiled and tapped his headset.

"I call for help." He said, pointing down the street to where the Rangers could see 'Koda' being swarmed. "Finally Worg good for something!"

"Worg saves the day!" Chase said with a smile as they saw viviks turning up. "Now let's go deal with the music man!"

They headed towards the location, finding Conductro standing next to a device that looked a lot like a large gramophone. He was surrounded by a ton of viviks, but there was still no sign whatsoever of Screech. The Rangers morphed as they got closer.

"Tyler, you and Shelby deal with that thing." Chase told him. "The rest of us will clear out the riff-raff."

"On it!" Tyler responded as they ran for Conductro. "Dino Steel, armour up!"

He and Shelby both powered up, gaining their weapons as they approached. Conductro saw them coming and pulled out his baton.

"Hey, this is a performance, not audience participation!" He said as he started waving around his baton. Debris and garbage flew up off the ground at his direction, heading for the Rangers.

"Shelby, behind me, I'll play ice-breaker!" Tyler said, pulling in front of her and smashing away as much as he could with his Tyranno Smasher. As they got close, almost right up to Conductro, Tyler skidded along on his knees, bending over. "NOW!"

Shelby used his shoulder to launch from, leaping high into the air, going straight over Conductro. He watched as she came down, smashing his gramophone to pieces.

"NO!" He wailed as he saw the wreckage. "My music!"

"You mean this?" Shelby said, grabbing the record and snapping it over her knee. "Don't you know that people use I-pods these days?"

"No, you don't know what you've done! This was my last chance!" Conductro warbled as he backed away.

"You bet it is." Tyler answered, powering up into his T-Rex Supercharge Mode.

However, before he could do anything, there was a blast and Conductro disappeared in a huge explosion. They both watched as Arcanon stepped out from the shadows.

"I am through sending weak and incompetent underlings to do my bidding!" He stated as he opened his book. "Now it's time for you to see what REAL power is!"

"Oh, I know a little something about real power!" Tyler told him, powering up his T-Rex blaster. "Final STRIKE!"

The blast hit Arcanon with a massive explosion. Tyler turned away from him, clutching the T-Rex Blaster to his chest. "Monster Ex..."

"Uh...Tyler?" Shelby said, pointing over his shoulder. Tyler turned slowly in time to see the smoke dissipating to reveal Arcanon standing there, completely unmarked. Tyler's shoulders slumped and he lowered his blaster.

"Oh...that can't be good."

Back at the Dino Lab, Kendall was watching the battle unfold while Sarah and Betty put the finishing touches on the last headset.

"They just destroyed the monster." Kendall told them. "We won't be needing that headset."

"Nice timing!" Betty grumbled. "Why did they have to wait until we were almost finished?"

"There's another problem." Kendall told them. "Arcanon just showed up."

"Arcanon? THE Arcanon?" Sarah asked, looking decidedly worried. Kendall got up from the workstation and headed for the exit, her Energem flying into her hand from the Crystal Beds.

Back in the streets of Amber Beach, the others were just finishing up with the viviks when they heard a huge explosion. They looked around just in time to see Shelby and Tyler through a concrete wall, landing on the ground before them.

"Tyler!" Koda called out as they ran over to their side, finding them barely moving.

"Guys, what happened?" Chase asked. They just pointed in the direction of the blast. Chase and the others just looked in horror as they saw Lord Arcanon coming towards them. "Bugger!"

Arcanon opened his book, pulling out the Dark Energem and held it. He looked up to the Rangers.

"Dark Energem, transform me with your power!" He called out as dark energy started to flare up all around him. "Now you will see its true power! There's no way of stopping me! Soon ALL the Energems will be mine!"

"That's...that's it?" Riley asked as the power dissipated, showing Arcanon's powered up form. "His face just...turned green."

"Yeah, and when Vegeta shed his armour and grew a couple of inches, that increased his power level to over a million!" Chase stated. The others all just stared at him. "What?"

"A Dragonball Z reference?" Tyler asked him. "Really?"

"Rain down the fires of chaos!" Arcanon boomed, casting his hands skyward. Dark clouds formed, descending the city into darkness and green flames fell from the sky, slamming into the Rangers. As they all lay on the ground, staring up at him, they were groaning in pain.

"Wow...if we have anything in reserve...now would be a good time." Tyler stated, watching as Arcanon started to grow. Almost as though to answer, he saw the Plesio Zord and Ptera Zord flying into view, firing into Arcanon.

"Sorry I'm late." Ivan called over the communicators. "I had a little trouble with zombie traffic."

"Guys, I've seen Arcanon's energy readings, they're off the charts, far higher than anything we've seen up until now." Kendall told them. "If we're going to take him down, we'll need everything, and I DO mean EVERYTHING!"

"Reading you loud and clear Ms Morgan." Tyler said as he hauled himself to his feet. They Rangers all threw every Dino Charger they had into the distance, calling all of the Zords. Kendall and Ivan kept Arcanon distracted with their Zords while the others arrived.

"Pour it on guys, let's keep him off balance!" Tyler said as he leapt into the T-Rex Zord. The team hit him from all sides with every Zord, though they didn't seem to do much more than irritate Arcanon.

"OK, all the Zords are here." Kendall said. "Tyler, call the Ultrazord!"

The Rangers assembled the Ultrazord, rushing to the attack. Unfortunately as they rammed its spear into his chest, they could see the evil warlord was completely unfazed. He opened his mouth and hit them with an energy blast that almost knocked the Zords completely out of their formation.

"That's what I call some pretty foul language." Chase remarked. "Anyone have any ideas left?"

"Only one, our most powerful attack." Kendall told them, powering up into Dino Super Drive Mode and loading Dino Chargers into her sabre. "All of this was just a distraction while the other Zords set up. "Ultra Plasma Cannon, Final STRIKE!"

The Rangers grabbed onto Kendall, pouring all their power into her as she swung the sabre. All the Zords united as one to fire off a power blast that lit up the whole area. As the light dissipated, they could not see any trace of Arcanon.

"Is he gone?" Chase asked. "Is that..."

"I'm not showing any signs of him on the scanner." Kendall said as she checked and re-checked her data. "I can't find him...or the Dark Energem...That's...that's it! He's really gone!"

"Go on Ms Morgan, go ahead and say it, you know you want to." Tyler stated as she stood before her team.

"Alright, just this once." Kendall answered. "Monster, Extinct!"

"Down on the ground though, Arcanon wasn't gone, however he was so weakened he couldn't even stand. He was lying on the ground, easy pickings for anyone that came along to finish him. He was glad that when he was hit by the blast, he was punted into the area covered by the ship's cloaking technology.

He turned over and started frantically looking around, realising the Energem was not in his hand. With it, he could regain his power and crush those that had opposed him once and for all. He saw a glint in the grass and started crawling towards it. He was stopped as a boot came down onto the Energem, stopping him grabbing it. Arcanon looked up, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Standing over him were Sledge, Poisandra and Curio.

"Looking for something?" Sledge asked him. Arcanon got to his knees before Sledge.

"Sledge, my old friend...I thought you had been destroyed." He stated.

"We're not friends. I captured your army for you for millions of years. Now it's time to collect!" Sledge stated.

"Yes, yes of course." Arcanon rushed out. "I have plenty of money..."

"No thank you, I think I'll take this instead!" Sledge said, picking up the Dark Energem.

"But...but that wasn't our deal!" Arcanon stated.

"Neither was me spending millions of years drifting in space with you doing nothing to help me!" Sledge snapped in response. Fury and Wrench showed up, arriving behind Sledge.

"You, forget, I have followers too Sledge. Destroy him!" Arcanon screamed. Fury and Wrench just lined up behind Sledge.

"You DID have followers." Wrench stated. "Shame about what happened to Singe...almost as though someone planned it."

"ALL of you betrayed me?" Arcanon yelled. Snide appeared, his sword resting over his shoulders and approached Arcanon.

"Face it, we got what we wanted from you. Now...now you're just a foot note!" Snide stated. With that, Sledge and Snide powered up their weapons, cutting down Arcanon once and for all.


	22. Back on the Throne

The team assembled in the Dino Lab to unwind after the events of the battle. Everyone was exhausted, the Rangers were aching all over, but at the same time no one felt much like sleeping right now. There was only one thing on everyone's mind. Arcanon was gone.

Kendall came over, taking out her hair tie and letting her hair down as she sat with the team. She winced a little as she sat down with them, being handed a glass of wine by Betty. She started rubbing her neck as she did.

"Wow." Tyler commented, looking at her. "You know...I think this is literally the first time we've ever seen you with your hair down."

"I guess the occasion does call for it." Shelby said, leaning into her boyfriend, letting him put his arm around her. "I can't believe that Arcanon's really gone! We did it guys, we won!"

"This has indeed been a great victory." Keeper told the Rangers. "You should all be very proud. Arcanon's evil has destroyed many worlds; the universe owes you a great debt of gratitude."

"With him gone, the bad guys are on the ropes. They're just waiting on the haymaker to finish them for good." Riley said, taking a sip of his drink.

"But that also means they're desperate. Before they were confident, so they could bide their time. Now, now we don't know what they could do." Chase added. "Fury, Poisandra, Wrench, maybe Snide if Arcanon never executed him. They're all still out there."

"He's got a point. Desperation has a habit of making people do stupid and dangerous things." Ivan told them. "I've seen sieges broken by a few dozen men in a sally."

The Rangers just stared at him.

"You know...sally forth?" He continued. "Ride out of the fort and attack!"

"So you think we might just see the forces that are left attacking?" Riley asked. Ivan shrugged.

"That or find a way to fire up their ship and flee." He told them. "Either way until we know, we have to assume that they're still coming for us."

"We still also have to find a new bearer for the Silver Energem." Kendall reminded them. "That's the only way we can reunite their power."

"Then it really will be over." Tyler stated. "How's the search going?"

"We have a list of potential candidates." Matt told them. "It'll be easier than it was for the Purple Energem, at least this time the Silver Energem will seek out someone. We just need to get it close."

Sarah turned in her seat and held her hand out, gesturing to the Silver Energem. All of them watched as she willed it towards her. Unfortunately, much to her disappointment, the Energem never budged an inch. She just looked disappointed as she turned back to the others.

"It was worth a try?" She offered weakly. "I'm sorry guys."

"It doesn't mean anything. None of us know WHAT the Energems are looking for." Tyler told her. "You'd be a great Ranger."

"Yeah...maybe you could do with being a little less reckless but..." Shelby said, eliciting a laugh from the others. "What?"

"So says the girl who literally only got this gig by stowing away!" Chase chuckled.

"At least I didn't get the job rescuing a cat!" Shelby answered, generating a few more laughs.

"Alright guys, I think maybe it's time to call it a night." Betty told them. "Tomorrow, we have a lot of work to do finding this Silver Ranger."

"That's probably a good idea." Kendall told them. "I'll prepare a list of candidates in the area for you to check out. The rest of you go home and get some rest."

"I really should. Mom and dad will be freaking out." Sarah answered. "I mean, we did get separated by a zombie invasion. I'll be lucky if she lets me out in this city again!"

"I'll give you a ride home." Chase told her. "Maybe her mind will be put at ease if she knows you were hiding out with friends. I mean...technically its true."

With that, the rest of the team filed out, leaving only Kendall, Matt and Betty in the Dino Lab. Betty went to one of the computers.

"So far your algorithm's found and narrowed down the search to about 400 people in the local area." Betty told them. "I think with a little work we can narrow that down further."

"Yeah, we can do that later." Matt stated. "Kendall, can you...come with me for a moment?"

"Matt..."

"Please, just...come with me." Matt told her. Betty just looked between the two of them, before gesturing to the elevator.

"I think I could use some iced tea." She told them, before leaving the room. Matt took Kendall by the hands.

"Matt, please, this has been an exhausting day..."

"I promise this isn't anything to do with...you know..." He gestured between the two of them as he led her to another computer. "You have some messages."

"E-mails?" Kendall asked him.

"I really think you should read them." He told her, turning her towards the screen. Kendall rolled her eyes and checked the screen. She blinked as she saw that she had half a dozen messages from various colleagues, but one in particular caught her attention.

"What the hell?" She asked, opening it up. She read through the e-mail, blinking as she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had to read it again, and again to see if she was mistaken. "I can't believe this...is this...?"

"I never read it, I swear, but the subject line made it pretty clear it was something you should see." Matt told her. "I guess congratulations are in order."

Kendall leapt at him, wrapping her arms around him in excitement. Matt was a little taken aback, but slowly he wrapped his arms around her too. He held her as she clung to him, before she parted from him a little way. Their eyes met, and his heart raced as she just looked at him, before she finally broke her gaze, looking away.

"Um...thank you." She told him. "Thank you for making me read those. Now, I have some work to do."

"Yeah...I'll just...leave you to it." Matt answered. "Like I said...congratulations."

With that, he left the lab, at which Kendall got on the computer and started to type.

The following day, Riley, Tyler, Ivan and Shelby made their way to the museum, wondering what fresh hell Flash would have cooked up. Given the disaster of the first day of his new exhibit, they were sure he wouldn't be happy. They hoped that the fact Betty sent him to the hospital with a taser would buy them at least a day away from his influence, but that hope quickly faded as they found him in the main lobby screaming at staff members. The team was looking pretty Spartan by now. Only Leanne and a couple of others remained.

"Planks of wood, I'm working with planks of wood!" He ranted at them. "No, scratch that, that's an insult to planks of wood. They're actually useful for something!"

"Hey, you want to back that down a little?" Leanne responded. "It's not exactly our fault the day turned into a George Romero movie!"

"No, but you've managed to turn this place into an absolute shambles!" He yelled at her. "Before the Dawn of the Dead, that cafe was in Bedlam!"

"You were the one that drove Allison to quit!" Leanne answered. "Not only were we a body down, we also lost our supervisor!"

"Alright, then you're the supervisor! Have an extra twenty five...no...twenty cents an hour." He snapped at her.

"Twenty cents an hour? You want me to take on that extra responsibility for twenty cents an hour?" Leanne asked him. "Screw that! I'll stay a waitress!"

"You take the job or you lose your job!" He responded. "Unskilled labour love, I could replace you in a heartbeat! If you don't like it, you know where the door is!"

He looked to the museum floor staff.

"Oh, and where the hell is my main exhibit?" He asked them.

"Um...none of us saw where it went." One of them answered. "We were kind of zombies...then when we turned back..."

"You ran off and left a four hundred thousand dollar exhibit completely unsecured in any way!" He roared. "If any of you still want to have your jobs, you'll go out into that city and find Worg and..."

"No need, I find." Koda said as he walked in, carrying a bag over his shoulder. Chase, Allison, Kendall and Betty were with him. He backed up a little, pointing to them.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" He asked them. Koda upended his bag onto the floor, pouring what was left of Worg onto the floor. He had served his purpose as a distraction for the zombies, but had been cornered with inevitable results.

"I bring Worg back." Koda told him as Flash looked in horror at the pieces on the floor. "He save people from zombies. Finally do something useful!"

"That was a four hundred grand exhibit!" He shrieked. "And you, you and your grandmother both assaulted me! I'm calling the cops!"

"You can do that, but I think you're about to have bigger problems than...how was it you described it? A shot in the pills?" She told him.

"Having you taken out of here in handcuffs is going to be the highlight of my day." Flash told her, beginning to dial. However, he stopped suddenly as he was interrupted by a huge yell.

"What the FUCK is THAT?" Someone screamed. Kendall just smiled while everyone else turned to see what the fuss was. A couple of men in suits started trudging towards them, one of them was very familiar...and he looked livid!

"Anton?" Tyler asked as he arrived. Flash made his way towards Anton.

"Dr Mercer, what are you doing here?" Flash asked him. Anton just recoiled from him.

"What am I doing here? What am I doing here?" He asked him. "Oh, I don't know, just something about a lovely two hour phone call I had from a Mrs Thompson! Lovely woman, she screamed down my ear for two straight hours about an injury her daughter sustained on museum grounds! I don't even know how she got my personal number!"

"It was a minor thing; I was dealing with it..."

"You...you were handling it by threatening to sack her when her family complained about you refusing to cover her medical bills?" Anton yelled at him. "I had to do some very fast talking to get her to agree not to go to the press!"

"Anton, that was just a little..."

"Oh, that was just one thing!" He said, holding out a hand, at which his assistant handed him a folder. He opened it and started to read off the e-mail. "I have a six figure invoice from YOUR animatronics company for an exhibit..."

"That Worg!" Koda said, pointing to the scrap on the floor. Anton just sighed and looked to it, then back to him.

"...which generated numerous complaints, and the threat of a lawsuit for defamation." He concluded.

"Lawsuit? What lawsuit?" He asked.

"The one I was intending to file on behalf of the people of Etach Heights Alaska." Kendall informed him. "Footage of your exhibit shows you misrepresented them as stupid and sexually aggressive. You were warned by an expert that wasn't the case and you ignored it."

"I was putting on a show, what evidence is there that any of what I showed isn't true?" He asked.

"I sent you regular updates on the latest academic work in the field." Anton told him. "This report by Ms Morgan has been ratified by some of the greatest minds..."

"I...I don't have time to go reading every academic journal you send me! I have most of it filtered straight to the junk folder!"

"It's a MUSEUM you moron!" Anton screamed at him. "Accuracy is kind of what we're going for here! Don't even get me started on that monstrosity in the lobby, that T-Rex couldn't be more inaccurate if you gave it wings!"

"Anton...I was just trying to make this place the gold-mine it deserves to be!" Flash told him. "Who cares if I bent the facts a little to make some of the exhibits a little more interesting..."

"It's a MUSEUM!" Anton reiterated, before grabbing another folder. "I also have this. Do you know what this is? This is over one hundred complaints from staff!"

"Staff always complain..."

"Over one hundred complaints since you took over! Do you want to know how many Kendall had in the year and a half she ran this place? THREE!"

"I had three complaints?" Kendall asked. Shelby held up a hand.

"Um...yeah...that was my bad." She admitted. "What? It was in the early days when I was trying to get on the dig team! I know none of them were valid now!"

"Filing of a wrongful termination suit on behalf of Harold Smith?" He asked. "That man's worked here for years! There are multiple complaints of threats and inappropriate behaviour towards staff. Sexist uniform policies, being forced to sell substandard food, shoddy merchandise, there's even a complaint about an assault perpetrated by this thing!"

He kicked Worg's remains, before looking to him once more.

"Well?" He asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"This team of so-called experts of yours..."

"You know what? I think I've heard more than enough!" Anton interrupted him. "You aren't the biggest mistake of my life by a long chalk, believe me on that part, but you DEFINITELY rank right up there. What you do also rank as is one of the mistakes I can do something about!"

He handed Flash an envelope.

"That's your pink slip." Anton told him. "You're fired!"

"Anton, please, we can talk about this..."

"Chase, would you do me a favour and please escort Mr Barker from the building?" Anton stated. Chase just smiled.

"With pleasure!" Chase answered, gesturing to the door. "I'm sure you know the way."

Flash just looked around the others, before heading for the door, escorted by the Black Ranger. Anton took a deep breath as he turned towards Kendall.

"I...I have no way to make this up to you. What you've all put up with is...frankly amazing!" He told her, handing her an envelope. "But, as my first order of business, I think this is a good start. Effective immediately, you are re-instated as the director of Amber Beach museum!"

He pulled her in, kissing her on the forehead.

"Congratulations." He stated. "Now...I need to get out of here before I really lose it. Consider this a blank check and carte blanche. Whatever you need to get this...farce...back into an actual museum, consider it done."

"Thank you Anton." She answered. With that, Anton left the museum, taking one last look at the T-Rex in the lobby and shaking his head in disbelief before walking out the door. Kendall turned to the others who were all smiling.

"Alright, we've got a lot of work to do!" She told them. "Allison, if you agree to come back, there's a ten percent pay raise in it for you...twenty percent if you can start today!"

"DONE!" Allison said, running into the back with her uniform to get changed. The cafe staff followed her, all looking delighted to have her back. She looked to Ivan.

"Ivan, get that...thing out of here." She said, pointing to Worg's remains. Ivan nodded and started to gather up the pieces. "Koda, run out to the hardware store and get a new door for my office. I want a door back on my office by the end of the day!"

"Whatever you say Kendall!" He said, running from the museum as Chase came back. She looked to him and Tyler.

"And for the love of all that is holy would you two PLEASE do something about that T-Rex?" She asked them. "I'm sick of looking at it!"

"Whatever you say Ms Morgan." Tyler said.

"It's good to have you back!" Chase agreed, grinning as he and Tyler went to change the T-Rex. Shelby shifted a little closer to Kendall, grinning brightly and bouncing with excitement.

"It's really great to have you back. The place wasn't the same without you." Shelby told her. "Congratulations Ms Morgan."

"Thank you." Kendall answered, pulling a certificate out of the envelope. "And that's DR Morgan."

"Doctor?" Shelby shrieked. "You...you got your PhD?"

"Anton pulled a few strings to get my thesis bumped up the queue for consideration." Kendall told her. "And don't think I forgot our deal. YOU owe me a plaque for my door!"

"I know just the place." Shelby answered, clicking her fingers. "I'll be right back Dr Morgan!"

As Shelby ran out on her errand, Kendall looked around the museum, seeing everyone working hard to return the museum to its rightful state. Matt came to her side.

"So, how about a coffee?" He asked her. "Dr Morgan?"

Kendall couldn't stop smiling hearing her new title. She loved the way it sounded hearing it said out loud. She turned to Matt and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'd love a cappuccino." She answered. "I'll take it in MY office."

"Anything you say." He responded, going to fetch it. She clutched her certificate to her chest, heading back towards her office with a huge grin on her face, thinking of places to hang it. She knew that they still had a way to go in their Ranger battles, but for now, The Queen was back on her throne, and it felt damned good!

FIN.

 **A/N:** Well, that's this story wrapped up, and the conclusion arc to my Dino Charge stories will begin very shortly. It's been a great season and a great team, but Ninja Steel beckons. Hope you all enjoyed it.


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